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WILLIAM  WATSON  ANDREWS 

A  RELIGIOUS  BIOGRAPHY 

WITH  EXTRACTS  FROM  HIS  LETTERS  AND 
OTHER  WRITINGS 


PREPARED    BY   HIS    BROTHER 

SAMUEL  J.  ANDREWS 


'      Jul  ;  -»  1920  ■ 


AUTHOR  OF  "THE  LIFE  OF  OUR  LORD  UPON  THE  EARTH' 
"CHRISTIANITY    AND    ANTI-CHRISTIANITY,"   ETC. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK  &  LONDON 
Cbe  IRnicfterbocI^ec  press 

1900 


Copyright,  iqoo 

BV 

SAMUEL  J.  ANDREWS 


irbc  TRnfcfjcrbocfecr  ipress,  UAcw  l?orft 


PREFACE 


THE  peculiar  religious  position  held  by  the  sub- 
ject of  this  Memorial  makes  the  presentation 
of  his  life  one  of  much  difficulty.  To  a  large 
number  of  Christian  people  in  this  land  the  work  in 
which  he  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life  is  wholly 
unknown,  and  by  almost  all  others  imperfectly 
understood ;  but  to  give  a  full  history  of  it,  and  a 
statement  of  the  grounds  on  which  it  rests,  would 
be  inconsistent  with  the  purpose  of  this  book  as  a 
personal  biography ;  and  yet  without  a  knowledge 
of  it,  much  in  his  position  can  be  only  partially  ap- 
prehended. But  the  reader  who  desires  to  know 
more  can  now  easily  get  access  to  sources  of  correct 
information. 

It  has  been  a  very  ungrateful  task  to  show  by 
some  quotations  the  attitude  of  unreasoned  hostility 
taken  by  some  parts  of  the  Church  to  the  work 
represented  by  Mr.  Andrews,  and  to  repeat  some 
of  the  coarse  terms  of  condemnation,  and  of  derision, 
used  by  some  individual  writers  respecting  it,  and 
by  implication  of  himself  as  its  advocate.  But  these 
cannot  be  wholly  passed  by  in  silence,  for  they  give 
a  clearer  insight  into  much  of  the  current  religious 


iv  Preface 

thought  of  that  day,  and  its  intolerance ;  and  show 
how  strongly  it  denied  not  only  the  reality,  but  even 
the  possibility,  of  any  loss  of  spiritual  grace,  and  the 
need  of  any  Divine  interposition.  They  also  testify 
to  the  patience  and  calmness  and  brotherly  love 
which  marked  Mr.  Andrews'  conduct,  under  cir- 
cumstances which  for  long  years  of  misrepresentation 
tried  his  faith  to  the  utmost. 

The  nature  of  this  biography  as  a  religious  one, 
and  its  limitations  as  to  space,  necessarily  keep  out 
of  sight  some  aspects  of  Mr.  Andrews'  life  which 
might  otherwise  be  spoken  of.  During  its  many 
years  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  not  a  few  persons 
whose  friendship  he  highly  valued,  and  with  some 
of  whom  he  had  much  correspondence.  Of  those 
not  already  spoken  of  in  the  Memorial  may  be 
mentioned  his  classmates,  John  M.  Clapp,  editor 
of  the  Charlestoji  Mercury,  and  the  Rev.  Alex- 
ander Sessions;  and,  of  later  years.  President  D. 
C.  Oilman,  of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  T.  S.  Childs,  and  the  Rev.  C.  C.  Starbuck. 
To  the  home  of  Richard  Fellows,  at  New  Haven,  an 
old  friend  of  many  years,  he  was  always  welcome ; 
and  he  found  in  the  continual  marks  of  affection 
and  confidence,  shown  in  many  ways,  of  President 
T.  D.  Woolsey,  the  Hon.  Henry  Barnard,  and  of 
his  classmates,  Rollin  Sanford,  Alpheus  S.  Williams, 
and  James  S,  Sanford,  not  to  mention  others,  great 
comfort  and  support. 

A  number  of  extracts  from  his  letters  and  ad- 
dresses on  topics  of  general  interest,  selected  for 
publication,  have  been  necessarily  omitted. 

S.  J.  A. 


A  CATHOLIC  CONFESSION 

{From  the  Apostles'  Liturgy) 

O  Almighty  God,  who  art  greatly  to  be  feared  in  Thy  holiness, 
we  are  ashamed  of  our  manifold  iniquities ;  we  confess  unto  Thee 
our  sin.  We  offend  continually  and  grievously  in  deed,  in  word, 
and  in  thought.  Our  fathers  have  transgressed  against  Thee  ;  and 
we,  our  children,  and  our  brethren,  do  fill  up  the  measure  of  their 
iniquity.  Thy  people,  from  generation  to  generation,  have  resisted 
and  turned  from  Thee.  We  have  abounded  in  false  doctrine,  heresy, 
and  schism.  The  priesthood  have  sinned,  and  all  the  people.  We 
harden  our  hearts,  and  are  impenitent ;  we  are  proud  and  rebellious  ; 
we  are  high-minded,  and  refuse  to  be  humbled.  We  have  rejected 
Thine  ordinances,  and  have  chosen  paths  of  our  own.  We  have 
lived  in  strife  and  confusion,  and  have  not  desired  peace.  We  have 
loved  lies  and  vanity,  hypocrisy  and  deceit.  We  covet  and  lust  after 
the  things  which  perish,  and  seek  not  Thy  heavenly  kingdom.  We 
confess  the  sin  of  all  Thy  people,  the  members  of  Thy  One  Catholic 
Church.  We  have  received  Thy  truth  with  our  minds,  but  have 
closed  our  hearts  against  Thee.  We  have  sat  in  judgment  on  those 
whom  Thou  hast  set  over  us,  and  we  judge  not  ourselves.  We  have 
loved  the  ways  of  disorder  in  which  we  have  lived,  and  have  been 
slow  to  learn  reverence  and  humility.  We  have  caused  Thy  truth 
to  be  rejected  of  the  heathen  by  our  foolishness  and  our  sin  ;  and  have 
brought  reproach  upon  Thy  Holy  Name.  By  our  hardness  of  heart 
and  unbelief  we  have  grieved  and  quenched  Thy  Holy  Spirit.  We 
are  a  burden  unto  Thee,  hindering  Thy  purpose  of  grace  to  others  ; 
and  we  have  forsaken  our  own  mercies. 

We  confess  unto  Thee,  O  God,  the  sin  of  all  kings,  princes,  and 
governors  ;  the  sin  of  all  ranks  and  estates  of  men.  From  the  high- 
est to  the  lowest,  we  have  all  transgressed  against  Thee.  (And  as 
dwellers  in  this  land,  we  especially  acknowledge  before  Thee  the  sin 
of  this  nation  and  people.)  For  all  these  our  manifold  offenses  and 
iniquities  we  do  beseech  Thy  mercy.  We  have  sinned  wilfully  and 
grievously  ;  yet  have  pity  on  us.  We  have  presumed  on  Thy  long- 
suffering  ;  yet  deal  with  us  in  mercy  and  in  truth,  and  forgive  us  our 
sins  :  through  Thy  Son  Jesus  Christ,  our  only  Redeemer.     Amen. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 
I.— 


II.— 
III.— 

IV.— 

v.— 

VI.— 

VII. 

VIII.— 

IX.— 

X.— 


XI 
XII.— 
XIII 


Early  Years — College  Life — Ordination.    i8io- 

1834 

Pastorate  at  Kent — Current  Religious  Beliefs 

1834-1842     

Pastorate  at  Kent — (Continued).     1834-1842 

First  Visit  to  England.     1843 

Last  Years  in  Kent.     1843-1849      ... 

Pastorate  in  Potsdam.     1849-1856 

The  Evangelist  Ministry — Its  Nature  and  Dif 

ficulties.     1856 

Evangelist     Ministry — Its     Early     Stage — Dr 

Bushnell's  "Vicarious Sacrifice."    1857-1874 
Evangelist  Ministry — Smith  Trial — Liturgical 

Club — Windsor  Locks  Council.     1875-1883 
Death  of  Dr.  Atwater — Sickness  in  England — 

Dr.   N.   J.    Burton — The   Old  Christianity 

1883-1889     

Closing  Years.     18S9-1894       .... 
Last  Years  and  Death.     1895-1897 
Funeral  Address  of  the  PvEV.  Dr.  Samuel  Hart 
vii 


13 
26 

43 
56 

74 

92 
103 
136 


152 

167 
177 
197 


Vlll 


Contents 


APPENDIX 

PAGE 

1.  Statement  of  Reasons  to  Consociation        .        .        .201 

2.  Farewell  Sermon  on  Withdrawal  from  Congrega- 

tional Ministry,  1849 206 

3.  Anniversary  Address  at  Kent,  1894       ....  242 

4.  Extract  from  a  Discourse  on  "  Christian  Nurture."  266 

5.  Genealogical  Notes 274 

6.  Published  Writings  of  W.  W.  Andrews        .         .         .  276 

7.  Index 279 


WILLIAM  WATSON  ANDREWS 


WILLIAM  WATSON  ANDREWS 


CHAPTER  I 


EARLY   YEARS — COLLEGE   LIFE — ORDINATION 


WILLIAM  WATSON  ANDREWS  was  born 
February  26,  18 10,  at  Windham,  Connec- 
ticut, and  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Rev. 
William  Andrews.  His  father  —  a  descendant  in 
the  direct  line  from  William  Andrews,  one  of  the 
settlers  of  New  Haven  in  1638 — was  a  graduate  of 
Middlebury  College,  Vermont,  in  1806,  was  ordained 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Windham, 
August,  1808,  and  was  married  May,  1809,  to  Miss 
Sarah  Parkhill,  a  native  of  Massachusetts.  Seven 
children  were  born  to  them,  six  sons  and  one 
daughter.  (For  family  details,  see  Appendix.) 
Mr.  Andrews  removed  to  Danbury,  Connecticut, 
and  was  installed  as  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  there,  in  June,  1813.  The  descendants  of 
WiUiam  Andrews,  the  settler  at  New  Haven,  con- 
tinued for  the  most  part  to  reside  in  Connecticut, 


2  William  Watson  Andrews 

and  may  be  regarded  as,  in  the  fullest  sense,  chil- 
dren of  the  soil.  In  religion  they  were  strict 
Puritans  ;  mostly  farmers,  and  not  holding  any 
prominent  positions  in  civil  or  military  life. 

William  Watson,  the  subject  of  this  Memorial 
(the  second  of  these  names  being  that  by  which 
he  was  generally  called),  while  not  in  any  sense 
precocious,  gave  early  proofs  of  high  intellectual 
endowments.  He  was  prepared  for  admission  to 
Yale  College,  according  to  the  standard  at  that 
tim.e,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  but  his  father  thought 
him  too  young.  Another  reason  for  delay  was 
the  want  of  money,  for  a  clergyman's  meagre 
salary  made  the  closest  economy  necessary,  and 
often  the  young  student  must  first  earn  for  him- 
self something  to  help  meet  his  expenses.  This  was 
the  case  with  Watson  Andrews.  In  his  fifteenth 
year  he  taught  a  district  school  in  an  adjoining 
town ;  and  later  became  an  assistant  in  an  academy 
at  Fishkill,  near  the  Hudson  River.  It  was  at  this 
time  that  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Miss  Given, 
who  became  his  wife  some  years  later. 

In  the  autumn  of  1828  he  entered  Yale  College  as 
a  sophomore,'  and,  though  standing  in  all  depart- 
ments of  study  among  the  first  scholars,  was  espe- 
cially  distinguished    in    English    composition    and 

'  In  the  account  which  in  1893  he  prepared  for  the  life  of  Presi- 
dent Porter  i^Noah  Porter,  a  Memorial  by  Friends,  New  York,  1893), 
he  mentions  the  names  of  many  of  his  classmates,  and  gives  some 
particulars  of  their  after  career,  showing  that  as  a  body  they  were  of 
more  than  average  ability.  "Out  of  a  class  of  eighty-one,  thirty- 
two  or  three  have  been  clergymen,  of  whom  two  [Thomas  M. 
Clark  and  W.  I.  Kip]  are  bishops  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church ;    three   have  beeia   professors  in  colleges   and    theological 


Early  Years — College  Life  3 

debate.  From  early  youth  he  had  been  interested 
in  debating  clubs,  and  the  two  great  societies  of 
Yale,  "  The  Linonian  "  and  "  The  Brothers  in 
Unity,"  furnished  a  good  field  for  this  form  of 
intellectual  exercise.  He  had  a  sympathetic  and 
musical  voice,  though  not  of  great  compass,  which 
at  once  attracted  attention ;  a  ready  command  of 
language,  and  the  ability  to  state  his  propositions 
clearly,  and  put  them  in  a  logical  order.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  "  Linonian,"  and  of  his  part  in  its 
debates  his  classmate.  President  Porter,  at  a  meet- 
ing held  April,  1879,  ^^^  ^^e  reorganization  of  the 
society,  said : 

"  There  was  a  man  in  college  here  when  I  was  in  col- 
lege, a  man  who  entered  sophomore  year.  He  wore  a 
gray  round  jacket,  his  hair  hung  on  his  shoulders,  he 
could  not  have  been  more  than  eighteen  years  old.  A 
Linonian,  I  am  happy  to  say,  he  swept  the  field,  swept 
the  seniors  all  away  by  the  wave  and  power  of  his  truly 
eloquent  debate.  And  I  would  like  to  say  another  thing 
in  regard  to  that  man.  I  found  out  that  while  fitting  for 
college  in  the  country,  he  somehow  or  other  had  got 
high  ideas  about  classical  literature  and  study.  He 
showed  me  in  manuscript  "  Demosthenes  on  the  Crown," 
written  out  by  himself  in  the  Greek  ;  parallel  to  it  he 
had  written  the  translation  ;  and  after  a  week  had  elapsed 
he  disciplined  himself  by  writing  back  the  English  into 

schools  ;  two  have  been  foreign  missionaries,  two  governors  of 
States,  two  members  of  Congress — one  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, the  other  of  the  Senate  ;  three  have  been  ministers  from  our 
government  to  foreign  countries  ;  one  a  major-general  in  the  late 
Civil  War  ;  one  a  Secretary  of  State  ;  sixteen  have  been  lawyers  ; 
eight  physicians  ;  two  teachers  of  the  deaf  and  dumb ;  and  others 
private  teachers,  editors,  bankers,  and  merchants." 


4  William  Watson  Andrews 

Greek  ;  and  that  discipline  gave  him  efficient,  thorough 
power  in  debate.  The  opening  address  of  the  President 
of  the  Linonian  Society  and  of  the  Brothers  in  Unity, 
was,  when  I  was  in  college,  the  great  occasion  of  the 
year.  I  have  somewhere  preserved  the  first  address, 
the  opening  address,  delivered  by  this  classmate  of  mine 
in  our  senior  year.  If  I  had  had  time  I  should  have 
hunted  it  up,  and  brought  it  here,  and  read  portions  to 
authenticate  the  truth  of  my  remarks." 

It  was  said  by  one  of  his  contemporaries  that  it 
was  an  argument  used  by  the  members  of  the  Li- 
nonian Society  to  induce  the  freshmen  to  join  it, 
that  it  was  Watson  Andrews'  society. 

In  his  junior  year  he  wrote  a  tragedy,  "  Talbot 
Castle,"  for  the  Linonian  Society,  which  was  acted 
by  its  members,  and  which,  it  is  said,  received  warm 
praise  from  the  poet  Hillhouse.  At  commencement 
he  gave  an  oration  on  "  The  Age  of  Sense,"  in 
which  he  contrasted  this  with  the  age  of  beauty  and 
the  age  of  religion.  Of  this  oration  an  accomplished 
woman  of  New  Haven  remembered  long  afterwards 
how  the  students  themselves  checked  the  hum  of 
conversation  when  he  came  upon  the  stage  to  speak, 
and  how  the  hush  of  expectation  fell  upon  the 
crowded  church  in  which  they  then  assembled. 

Among-  Watson  Andrews'  classmates  were  two 
with  whom  he  formed  especially  close  relations  of 
friendship,  which  continued  through  life.  These 
were  Noah  Porter,  afterwards  a  tutor,  then  a  pro- 
fessor, and  finally  President  of  Yale;  and  Lyman 
Hotchkiss  Atwater,  afterwards  Professor  of  Logic 
and  Political  Economy  in  the  College  of  New  Jersey. 
In  the  article  just  referred  to  on  Dr.  Porter's  student 


Early  Years — College  Life  5 

life  at  Yale,  Mr.  Andrews  speaks  of  the  influence 
which  the  stirring  movements  of  the  time  had  on 
their  youthful  minds:  "  A  new  spirit  was  in  the 
air.  It  was  eminently  a  time  of  hope  and  sanguine 
expectations.  We  were  dreaming  of  great  possi- 
bilities in  the  future."  The  poetry  of  Wordsworth 
and  Coleridge  had  already  begun  to  attract  atten- 
tion in  the  country,  and  philosophy  was  asserting 
vigorously  its  claims.  In  philosophy,  especially  as 
presented  by  Coleridge,  Mr.  Andrews  and  his  friends 
were  greatly  interested.  He  writes:  "  The  Aids  to 
Reflection  W2is  repubhshed  during  our  college  course, 
through  the  influence  of  President  Marsh  of  Burling- 
ton University.  It  was,  I  think,  towards  the  close 
of  our  junior  year  that  I  bought  the  first  copy  of 
this  book  which  was  sold  in  New  Haven  .  .  . 
and  it  soon  became  the  text-book  of  a  little  circle, 
in  which  Porter  and  Atwater  were  conspicuous  for 
their  enthusiasm."  * 

Naturally  thoughtful  and  reflective,  he  early 
meditated  much  upon  his  relations  to  God  and 
Christ,  but  he  did  not  when  he  entered  college 
regard  himself  as  a  member  of  the  Church.  The 
Calvinism  of  that  day  did  not  recognize  the  mem- 
bership of  the  baptized  children  till  they  had  passed 
through  a  period  of  conviction  of  sin,  and  had  en- 
tered into  a  covenant  with  the  local  church.  They 
were  then  admitted  to  the  Lord's  table,  and  regarded 
as  under  the  watch  and  care  of  the  Church. 

Of  his  religious  history  while  in  college  he  speaks 

'  It  was  related  by  one  who  was  present  at  Mr.  Andrews'  marriage, 
that  while  he  and  Atwater  were  in  the  dressing-room  preparing  to  go 
to  the  ceremony,  their  talk  was  of  Coleridge  and  his  philosophy. 


6  William  Watson  Andrews 

in  his  account  of  President  Porter's  student  life. 
"  The  years  1830  and  1831  were  remarkable  in  many 
countries  for  rehgious  and  spiritual  as  well  as  politi- 
cal movements.  It  was  in  the  beginning  of  our 
senior  year  that  the  college  felt  the  new  life  which 
was  then  stirring  England  and  Scotland  as  well  as 
our  own  land.  Our  class  was  greatly  moved.  .  .  . 
As  a  fruit  of  this  religious  movement,  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  class  were  brought  to  make  a  public 
profession  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  to  become 
communicants  at  the  table  of  the  Lord."  From  this 
time  on  his  thoughts  were  directed  to  the  Christian 
ministry,  although  his  early  choice  had  been  the  law. 

It  was  in  1831,  after  leaving  college,  that  his  at- 
tention was  drawn  through  the  newspapers  and 
magazines  to  a  religious  movement  then  beginning 
in  Scotland,  and  which  has  its  development  in  the 
"  Catholic  Apostolic  "  congregations  of  to-day.  Of 
this  movement,  which  powerfully  influenced  all  his 
after  life,  we  shall  here  speak  only  to  show  how  it 
affected  his  studies  for  the  ministry,  leaving  a  fuller 
consideration  of  it  to  the  later  period  when  he  iden- 
tified himself  with  it. 

The  beginning  of  this  movement  was  in  certain 
spiritual  utterances  —  tongues  and  prophesying.' 
There  were  also  some  remarkable  cases  of  healing. 
At  this  time,  also,  much  interest  in  the  prophetic 

'  It  is  impossible  within  the  scope  of  this  Memorial  to  speak  in 
detail  of  these  spiritual  manifestations,  or  of  the  proofs  they  gave  that 
they  were  the  true  utterances  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Those  who  desire 
to  know  the  history  of  the  movement  in  its  beginning  may  consult 
a  book,  Creation  and  Redemption  ;  also.  Restoration  of  Apostles  and 
Prophets;  the  article  by  Mr.  Andrews  in  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  reprinted 
in  pamphlet  form  ;  and  a  Narrative  of  Evetits. 


Early  Years — College  Life  7 

Scriptures  was  awakened  in  many  quarters  by  the 
preaching  of  Edward  Irving  and  others  on  the  Second 
Advent  of  the  Lord.  Mr.  Andrews,  referring  to  this 
period  of  his  Hfe,  writes:  "  It  was  immediately  after 
leaving  Yale,  in  the  autumn  of  1831,  that  my  at- 
tention was  arrested  by  a  letter  taken  from  Eraser  s 
Magazine,  giving  an  account  of  the  utterances  in 
tongues  and  prophes}angs  by  holy  men  and  women 
of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland;  and  I  felt  that  here  was  a 
phenomenon  worth  looking  into.  I  resolved  to 
study  the  New  Testament,  and  find  out  what  it  said 
of  spiritual  gifts,  and  of  the  Lord's  advent.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  my  interest  in  this  religious 
movement." 

Two  questions  were  now  brought  before  him : 
first,  as  to  the  Lord's  return  to  the  earth,  the 
place  which  it  held  in  the  Divine  purpose  of  re- 
demption, and  whether  it  was  or  was  not  an  object 
of  hope  and  prayer,  and  something  to  be  preached 
as  an  incentive  to  the  Christian  life ;  secondly, 
whether  or  not  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  as  mentioned 
by  the  apostle  (i  Cor.  xii.  1-7)  were  given  to  abide 
in  the  Church.  These  were  purely  Scriptural  ques- 
tions, and  it  was  by  the  teaching  of  the  Scriptures 
that  they  must  be  decided.  The  question  as  to 
the  utterances  in  Scotland,  and  later  in  England, 
whether  they  were  the  utterances  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
or  not,  and  as  to  the  reality  of  the  supposed  miracu- 
lous healings,  were  matters  of  fact,  to  be  decided 
only  upon  sufificient  evidence.  And  in  the  matter 
of  the  Lord's  advent,  the  Scriptural  teaching  respect- 
ing it  was  to  be  distinguished  from  the  interpre- 
tations of   Mr.    Irving  and   others,   and   from  any 


8  William  Watson  Andrews 

speculation  as  to  the  time.  These  were  points  for 
his  subsequent  examination,  and  it  was  not  till  some 
years  later  that  his  beliefs  became  clear  and  firm. 
But  his  study  of  the  Scriptures,  from  this  time  car- 
ried on  most  diligently,  was  opening  to  him  new 
questions,  and  impelling  him  to  the  consideration 
of  points  respecting  the  constitution  of  the  Church, 
its  relation  to  its  Head,  and  its  ministries  and  ordi- 
nances, then  almost  wholly  ignored  in  New  England 
theology. 

The  autumn  months  of  1831  were  spent  at  his 
home  in  Cornwall,  in  a  romantic  valley  amid  the 
hills.  A  favorite  place  of  resort  he  found  in  a 
secluded  glen  a  little  way  from  the  village,  of  which 
he  writes  in  a  letter:  "  Half  a  mile  from  our  house 
is  a  glen,  where  in  the  hot  summer  months  I  have 
often  sought  coolness  and  solitude.  It  is  walled  in 
by  high,  broad-breasted  rocks  on  one  side,  and  a 
steep,  thickly  wooded  hill  on  the  other,  and  through 
it,  over  many  a  tiny  precipice,  dashing  and  foaming, 
runs  a  small  mountain  stream.  At  the  upper  end 
the  mossy  rocks  rise  irregularly,  one  above  the  other, 
building  up  rude  seats  for  this  sylvan  amphitheatre ; 
and  in  the  leafy  summer  the  trees  form  a  canopy 
overhead,  through  which  the  blue  heavens  look 
down  in  scattered  glimpses." 

The  year  after  his  graduation  was,  as  is  often  the 
case  when  college  life  is  ended,  and  its  stimulus  and 
support  are  taken  away,  one  of  much  mental  depres- 
sion. In  a  letter  written  to  Porter,  October,  1831, 
he  excuses  himself  from  writing  a  comedy,  which  he 
had  been  invited  by  the  Linonian  Society  to  pre- 
pare, on   the  ground  of  ill-health  and  low  spirits. 


Early  Years — College  Life  9 

He  was  then  siiffering  from  an  inflammation  of  the 
eyes  which  prevented  much  reading  or  writing;  and 
to  this  was  added  the  feeling  that  he  was  constitu- 
tionally unfitted  for  vigorous  and  aggressive  labor. 
In  a  letter  of  December,  1831,  he  speaks  of  himself 
as  having  "  awakened  from  the  ambitious  dreams 
of  his  academic  years,  to  poverty  and  embarrass- 
ment, and  to  the  still  gloomier  consciousness  of 
entire  unfitness  for  the  duties  and  responsibilities 
of  active  life."  This  sentiment  often  reappears  in 
the  letters  of  this  period.  Even  of  the  compara- 
tively quiet  and  uneventful  life  of  a  clergyman,  he 
writes:  "  From  the  weighty,  the  crushing  respon- 
sibilities of  such  a  life,  and  its  fatiguing,  ceaseless 
round,  I  shrink  in  fear  and  dread  ;  and  the  same  love 
of  silent  thought,  and  the  same  aversion  to  active 
life,  will  in  these  noisy  and  bustling  times  make  me 
a  world-shunning  recluse."  But  there  is  no  hint  of 
any  religious  doubt  or  of  disquiet  as  to  the  great 
truths  of  the  Christian  faith. 

In  letters  written  about  this  time  to  his  friend 
Porter,  he  speaks  of  reading  to  divert  his  mind:  "  I 
console  myself  when  downhearted  with  John  Norris 
and  Thomas  Aquinas  —  two  of  the  likeliest  old  gen- 
tlemen I  am  acquainted  with.  I  conclude  with 
the  wish  of  old  John  Norris:  '  May  God  give  us 
light,  and  when  we  have  found  that,  humility  ' ;  or, 
as  I  would  amend  it,  '  Give  us  humility,  that  we 
may  find  light.'  I  am  now  busy  in  deciphering  the 
enigmas,  and  phantasies,  and  devotional  flights  of 
Jacob  Bohme." 

Being  in  debt  at  the  end  of  his  college  course,  it 
was   necessary    for   him    to    find    some   immediate 


lo         William  Watson  Andrews 

employment.  He  was  very  soon  after  his  graduation 
offered  a  place  in  the  newspaper  office  of  Mr.  Duff 
Green,  publisher  of  the  Telegraph,  at  Washington, 
D.C. ;  but  he  had  no  taste  for  political  journalism, 
and  declined  it.  The  only  work  immediately  avail- 
able was  that  of  teaching,  and  in  the  winter  of 
1831-32  he  taught  in  an  academy  in  Washington,  a 
town  a  few  miles  from  his  father's  residence. 

After  his  school  work  in  Washington  was  ended 
in  the  spring  of  1832,  he  spent  a  little  time  in  New 
Haven,  and  later  returned  to  his  father's  at  Corn- 
wall. In  May  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  teach  in 
a  private  family  near  Warrenton,  Fauquier  Count}', 
Virginia.  He  went  there  in  June  and  remained  till 
October.  In  writing  to  his  father,  he  says:  "  My 
situation  is  as  favorable  on  many  accounts  as  I  could 
desire.  Nowhere  could  I  see  more  genuine  hos- 
pitality, or  have  a  better  opportunity  of  becoming 
acquainted  with  diversities  of  character.  No  house 
in  this  part  of  the  State  is  more  noted  than  Oak- 
wood,  or  in  the  summer  months  the  scene  of  more 
festivity  and  gayety."  But  the  religious  conditions 
he  found  very  unlike  those  then  existing  in  New 
England.  Bishop  Meade  was  endeavoring  to  lead 
his  people  into  a  higher  Christian  life,  but  many 
looked  upon  his  efforts  with  disfavor,  and  Mr.  An- 
drews adds:  "  I  occasionally  hear  those  halcyon 
days  lamented,  when  parsons  led  out  a  dance,  and 
were  the  jolliest  wine-bibbers  and  whist-players  in 
the  country."  Something  of  the  same  spirit, 
though  under  differing  forms,  might  be  found  in  the 
clerical  life  of  New  England  during  the  last  century. 

This  residence  in  Virginia,  though  brief,  was  of 


Early  Years  —  College  Life         n 

great  advantage  to  Mr.  Andrews,  as  to  both  body 
and  mind.  Although  still  subject  to  moods  of  de- 
pression, he  rose  to  the  consciousness  that  he  could 
do  little  good  in  the  world  except  as  an  active  mem- 
ber of  society.  Writing  to  Porter,  he  reaffirms  his 
purpose  to  enter  the  Christian  ministry  as  the  field 
of  labor  in  which  he  "  could  best  combine  active 
labor  with  peaceful  study.  .  .  .  No  one  is  so 
favorably  situated  for  happiness  as  a  clergyman  in 
the  country.  My  purpose  is  to  qualify  myself  as 
speedily  as  possible  for  the  unambitious,  yet 
weighty,  and  often  perplexing,  duties  of  a  parish 
minister;  and  if  my  talents  and  attainments  shall 
enable  me  to  be  useful  in  the  most  obscure  congre- 
gation in  the  Church  of  the  Lord,  and  a  blessing  to 
my  friends,  I  shall  thank  God,  and  go  on  my  way 
rejoicing." 

The  winter  of  1832-33  was  spent  at  Washington, 
teaching  in  the  same  academy  as  in  the  previous 
year.  In  a  letter  to  Porter  he  says:  "  With  many 
pleasures,  there  is  one  disadvantage  attending  popu- 
larity rn  a  country  village.  You  are  a  homo  piibliciis, 
and  are  expected  to  attend  religious  meetings  of  all 
sorts,  lyceums,  temperance  meetings,  and  besides 
be  sociable  among  the  people,  leaving  one  little  time 
for  private  study  or  correspondence.  I  have  just 
slipped  my  head  into  a  new  noose,  that  is,  I  have 
engaged  to  deliver  a  series  of  lectures  on  the  Pro- 
phetical Books  of  Daniel  and  The  Revelation." 
The  immaturity  of  his  preparation  for  such  lectures 
he  himself  recognized  in  later  years. 

In  a  letter  he  expresses  the  hope  that  Porter  and 
himself  can  make  an  arrangement  (never  effected)  to 


12  William  Watson  Andrews 

spend  six  months  together  in  the  study  of  theology 
and  philosophy.  "  Nothing,"  he  writes,  "  would 
be  so  beneficial  to  my  mind  and  heart  as  daily  inter- 
course with  a  tried,  wise,  and  affectionate  friend." 

The  early  summer  of  1833  was  spent  in  Cornwall 
at  his  father's  house.  He  was  married  July  24, 
1833,  at  Fishkill,  N.  Y.,  to  Miss  Mary  Ann  Given. 
He  was  licensed  September  25th  of  the  same  year, 
at  Norfolk,  by  the  North  Association  of  Litchfield 
County,  in  the  usual  form,  to  preach  for  the  term 
of  four  years.  The  winter  of  1833-34  was  spent  in 
Cornwall,  lie  carrying  on  his  theological  studies,  and 
preaching  occasionally,  and  also  assisting  his  brother 
Warren  in  his  school. 

Early  in  1834  he  was  invited  to  become  the  pastor 
of  the  Congregational  Church  in  New  Hartford,  a 
town  not  far  from  his  father's  home,  but  he  de- 
clined it.  About  the  same  time  he  received  an 
invitation  from  the  Congregational  Church  in  Kent, 
and  this  he  accepted,  and  was  ordained  there  on  the 
2 1st  of  May.  His  ordination  was  according  to  the 
usual  Congregational  forms.  A  Council  was  con- 
vened of  the  ministers  and  lay  representatives  of  the 
consociated  churches  of  the  vicinity,  who,  after  an 
examination  of  the  candidate,  and  his  approval, 
ordained  him  by  prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  hands; 
his  father  in  this  case  preaching  the  ordination  ser- 
mon. Although  well  known  to  all  to  be  deeply 
interested  in  questions  of  the  constitution  of  the 
Church,  and  of  prophecy,  no  objection,  so  far  as  is 
known,  was  made  by  any  to  his  ordination. 


CHAPTER  II 

PASTORATE   AT   KENT  —  CURRENT   RELIGIOUS 
BELIEFS 


THE  ordination  of  Mr.  Andrews  and  the  begin- 
ning of  his  ministry  presents  a  fitting  oppor- 
tunity to  consider  the  several  influences 
acting  upon  him,  and  which  from  the  first  gave  to 
this  ministry  a  peculiar  character.  These  influences 
were,  the  prevalent  theology  of  New  England  in 
which  he  had  been  educated,  and  its  effect  upon  the 
religious  life  of  the  people;  the  philosophic  prin- 
ciples of  Coleridge ;  and  the  new  germinating  beliefs 
as  to  the  Church  and  its  ordinances  and  endow- 
ments, which  the  religious  movement  in  Scotland 
and  England  presented  to  his  mind. 

As  more  than  sixty  years  have  passed  since  his 
ministry  in  Kent  began,  and  there  has  been  in  many 
points  of  religious  belief  a  great  though  gradual 
change,  we  must  go  back  and  note  the  nature  of  the 
change.  It  will  be  understood  that  we  speak  here 
primarily  of  the  Congregational  churches  of  New 
England,  though  what  is  said  is  applicable  in  great 
part  to  the  Baptists  and  Methodists.     There  were 

13 


14  William  Watson  Andrews 

then  no  Roman  Catholic  churches  except  in  the 
larger  cities,  and  only  a  few  weak  and  scattered 
Episcopal  congregations. 

The  New  England  churches  of  that  day  were  for 
the  most  part  doctrinally  orthodox,  holding  fast  to 
the  Trinity,  to  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  to  the  In- 
spiration of  the  Scriptures  and  their  supreme  author- 
ity, to  the  sinfulness  of  human  nature,  to  the  sacrifice 
of  Christ  as  the  basis  of  our  salvation,  and  to  the 
necessity  of  personal  repentance  and  faith. 

But  though  the  Divinity  of  Christ  was  firmly  held, 
the  wide-reaching  significance  of  the  Incarnation  was 
little  apprehended ;  and  though  the  facts  of  His 
Resurrection  and  Ascension  were  articles  of  faith, 
their  bearings  upon  His  present  priesthood  and  upon 
His  future  kingship  were  only  dimly  seen.  Very 
little  was  said  of  Him  as  the  living  and  ruling  Head 
of  the  Church,  or  of  His  present  intercession,  or  of 
His  return.  The  great  doctrinal  topic  of  the  pulpit 
was  the  way  in  which  His  death  was  related  to  the 
forgiveness  of  sin,  joined  to  the  question  of  man's 
ability  to  obey  God.  The  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
was  much  dwelt  upon,  but  He  seemed  often  to  be 
regarded  as  the  Head  of  the  Church,  rather  than 
as  sent  to  testify  to  Christ  as  the  Head.  The 
great  channel  of  His  operations  was  the  preached 
word,  not  ordinances  or  sacraments.  The  sermon 
was,  therefore,  the  centre  of  interest,  and  the  other 
parts  of  the  service  were  regarded  as  introductory 
and  subordinate.  It  was  the  general  belief  that 
the  world  would  be  converted  to  Christianity  by 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  much  interest  was 
felt    in    missions.     The    more   ardent    expected   to 


Current  Religious  Beliefs  15 

see  great  and  immediate  results, —  nations  born  in 
a  day, —  seeing  a  type  of  this  in  the  Sandwich 
Islands. 

As  regarded  the  sacraments,  Baptism  was  scarcely 
more  than  an  empty  form.  The  baptized  children 
stood  only  in  a  nominal,  not  vital  relation  to  Christ, 
and  in  a  merely  external  one  to  the  Church.  It  was 
generally  held  that  at  the  Lord's  table  the  com- 
municants ate  and  drank  as  a  mere  commemorative 
act — a  vivid  way  of  bringing  the  Lord  and  His  work 
to  remembrance.  But  there  was  a  form  of  conse- 
cration used  by  many  which  showed  a  feeling  that 
there  was  more  than  a  mere  commemoration.  A 
common  formula  was  a  prayer  that  "  so  much  of  the 
bread  and  wine  as  should  be  consumed,  might  be 
separated  from  a  common  to  a  sacred  use."  That 
which  remained  of  the  bread,  usually  a  large  portion 
of  the  loaf,  was  not  looked  upon  as  consecrated,  and 
was  taken  by  the  deacons  or  the  pastor,  and  con- 
sumed at  the  evening  family  meal. 

That  there  is  a  universal  Church,  one  body,  all  its 
members,  in  virtue  of  their  baptism,  partaking  of  a 
common  life,  that  this  unity  should  be  visible,  that 
Christ's  headship  embraces  all  with  equal  love  and 
care,  and  that  all  must  suffer  or  be  blessed  together, 
were  truths  wholly  disregarded  as  of  no  practical 
importance.  No  sorrow  was  felt  at  the  many 
divisions  of  Christians,  and  their  attendant  rivalries 
and  hostilities.  These  were  accepted  almost  as  a 
matter  of  course,  and  to  be  little  regarded.  Indeed 
they  were  defended  by  many  on  the  ground  of  util- 
ity, as  stimulating,  to  greater  activity.  It  was  not 
the  relation  of  Christians  to  one  another,  but  the 


i6         William  Watson  Andrews 

relation  of  each  to  God,  which  was  the  great  object 
of  concern.  Continual  mention  was  made  of  the 
churches,  but  very  rarely  of  the  Church,  Loyalty 
to  Christ  was  with  many  loyalty  to  one's  own 
denomination  or  sect. 

As  regarded  the  future  Hfe,  the  resurrection  of  the 
body,  which  would  be  at  the  Lord's  return,  was 
held  as  a  doctrine,  but  its  importance  was  nullified 
by  the  other  doctrine,  generally  held,  that  "  the 
souls  of  the  faithful  do  immediately  pass  into 
glory."  As  the  Lord  could  not  return  till  His 
Church  had  converted  the  w^orld  by  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel,  the  resurrection  must  be  put  off  into 
the  distant  future.  It  necessarily  followed  that  all 
the  Lord's  words  which  seemed  to  describe  His  per- 
sonal coming  as  speedy  and  sudden,  and  to  be 
always  kept  in  mind  as  an  object  of  hope,  must  be 
referred  to  death.  He  would  Himself  come,  in- 
deed, at  last  to  raise  the  dead,  but  not  till  the  long 
drama  of  redemption  was  accomplished ;  and  then 
as  the  Judge  to  the  final  judgment.  Death  thus 
practically  usurped  the  place  of  the  Living  One  in 
their  thoughts,  and  His  children  walked  through 
life  with  eyes  ever  looking  down  into  the  grave  as  if 
He  had  never  risen.  Although,  theoretically,  to  die 
was  to  enter  into  glory,  yet  practically  death  con- 
tinued to  be  the  king  of  terrors,  and  to  have  it  ever 
in  mind  was  a  Christian  duty.  Their  piety  took  on 
it  a  sad,'  funereal  type,  which  showed  itself  in  their 

^  All  elderly  New  England  readers  will  recall  not  a  few  hymns  like 
these  :  "  Hark,  from  the  tombs  a  doleful  sound,"  "  We  lay  our  gar- 
ments by"  ;  and  in  children's  hymn-books,  "  Tell  me.  Mamma,  if  I 
must  die,  as  little  brother  died." 


Current  Religious  Beliefs  17 

worship,  in  their  prayers,  their  hymns,  and  in  all 
their  religious  utterances. 

It  was  in  a  community  in  which  this  type  of  re- 
ligious doctrine  and  life  prevailed,  that  Mr.  Andrews 
began  his  pastoral  labors,  and  this  necessarily  deter- 
mined the  general  character  of  his  teaching  and 
work.  He  met  at  the  outset  the  almost  universal 
feeling  that  truth  from  the  pulpit  was  to  be  valued 
as  it  bore  on  the  matter  of  personal  salvation.  The 
question  which  his  Christian  hearers  would  put  to 
every  sermon  was:  "  What  good  has  it  done  me  ? 
How  has  it  helped  me  to  save  my  soul  ?  "  Or, 
looking  toward  those  not  church  members,  who 
often  made  half  the  congregation,  the  question  was: 

What  effect  had  the  sermon  made  on  them  ?  Will 
it  convict  them  of  sin  ?  Will  they  be  brought  by 
it  into  the  Church  ?  " 

A  clergyman's  son,  and  familiar  with  the  spirit 
and  forms  of  New  England  religious  life,  Mr.  An- 
drews was  able  to  understand  and  sympathize  with 
those  thus  educated  and  trained,  whom  he  was  to 
teach  and  guide.  He  was  able  to  recognize  what 
was  true  in  their  beliefs,  and  in  their  type  of  piety, 
and  to  defend  and  preserve  it.  But  how  was  he  to 
bring  them  into  the  larger  and  higher  conceptions  of 
Christianity  into  which  he  was  himself  entering?  The 
great  and  essential  beliefs  already  mentioned,  they 
held  in  common,  and  his  work  was  to  enlarge  and 
make  more  definite  their  conceptions  of  them,  and  to 
show  their  mutual  relations.  He  was  not  called  to 
present  to  them  new  truths,  but  to  teach  them  how 
much  was  involved  in  the  old;  and  also  that  God's 
ordinances  are  always  realities,  not  empty  forms. 


1 8         William  Watson  Andrews 

As  his  own  religious  knowledge  enlarged,  and  he 
saw  more  and  more  clearly  the  purpose  of  God  in 
the  redemption  of  man,  he  aimed  to  show  them  that 
purpose,  both  in  its  successive  stages,  and  in  its 
unity,  and  in  its  culmination  in  the  kingdom  of 
God.  He  taught  them  that  the  work  of  redemption 
was  not  ended  at  the  cross,  but  only  its  foundation 
laid  ;  and  that  Christ's  present  priesthood  and  inter- 
cession, and  His  kingdom  to  be  established  at  His 
return,  are  both  essential  parts  of  it. 

It  was  in  this  way  that  Mr.  Andrews  endeavored 
to  lift  his  people  out  of  the  narrowness  and  selfish- 
ness of  mere  individual  salvation,  as  the  one  great 
absorbing  element  of  the  Christian  life ;  and  to  bring 
them  to  see  their  true  position  as  those  called  to  be 
co-workers  with  God  in  His  great  purpose,  and 
their  relations  and  duties  to  His  Son  and  to  His 
Church. 

The  second  of  the  influences  affecting  the  ministry 
of  Mr.  Andrews  was  his  study  of  Coleridge  and  his 
philosophy.  In  a  quotation  already  made  from  a 
letter  we  have  seen  how  he  speaks  of  the  Aids  to 
Reflection.  He  felt  that  it  had  been  of  great  service 
to  him.  "  It  was  a  book  for  thoughtful  study,  not 
for  hasty  and  superficial  reading,  and  we  soon  came 
to  value  it  and  to  admire  it  for  the  insight  it  gave 
us  into  the  deep,  underlying  principles  on  which 
Christian  philosophy  must  rest,  and  which  furnish 
the  key  to  the  structure  and  history  of  humanity. 
It  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say  that  it  wrought  in 
us  a  great  intellectual  and  spiritual  revolution.  It 
taught  us  the  art  of  thinking,  or  of  referring  facts 
to  principles,  and  of  looking  below  the  phenomena 


Current  Religious  Beliefs  19 

of  the  movement  or  the  age  to  the  imperishable 
truth  which  gave  them  their  meaning  and  value." 
After  giving  some  illustrations,  he  adds :  "  We  found 
in  his  writings  also  a  sure  antidote  to  pantheism  and 
materialism,  in  their  teaching  about  God,  living, 
personal,  triune;  in  His  relation  to  the  creature 
brought  forth  by  Him,  and  filled  with  symbols  of 
spiritual  truth,  but  never  to  be  identified  with  Him. 
Nor  did  he  find  in  nature  or  man  any  substitute  for 
Divine  Revelation  by  His  Word  and  Spirit,  but  held 
up  the  Bible  as  the  inexhaustible  storehouse  of  truth 
respecting  God,  and  the  inspired  record  of  the  work 
of  redemption  through  the  incarnation,  death,  and 
resurrection  of  His  Son.  The  Bible  became  to  us  a 
living  book,  every  part  of  which  had  its  relations  to 
the  whole,  and  could  never  lose  its  use  and  power 
till  the  complete  accomplishment  of  the  Divine  pur- 
pose centring  in  the  Incarnate  Son." 

The  third  great  influence  upon  Mr.  Andrews,  and 
modifying  his  own  beliefs  upon  some  most  impor- 
tant points,  was  the  religious  movement  in  Scotland 
and  England  already  spoken  of.  Through  this  move- 
ment and  its  spiritual  phenomena  his  attention  was 
called  to  the  constitution  of  the  Church  as  Divinely 
appointed,  and  especially  to  its  spiritual  endow- 
ments; opening  to  him  questions  which  had  long 
been  regarded  as  definitely  settled.  He  was  led  to 
study  the  place  and  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the 
Church,  His  differing  operations  through  its  various 
ministries  and  ordinances,  and  the  nature,  value,  and 
permanence  of  His  spiritual  gifts.  Were  some  of 
these  operations  and  gifts  limited  in  the  Divine 
purpose  to  the  apostolic  age,   or  had  they  ceased 


20         William  Watson  Andrews 

through  lack  of  faith  ?  What  did  the  Scriptures 
teach  upon  this  point  ? 

This  course  of  inquiry  soon  led  to  the  study  of 
the  relation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the  risen  Lord, 
and  of  the  Lord's  place  and  prerogatives  as  the 
Head  of  the  Church.  He  gradually  saw  how  much 
this  headship  involved,  —  the  organic  structure  of 
the  Church  as  His  body,  the  Head  and  the  body 
constituting  one  organism,  its  unity,  its  obedience 
to  one  will,  its  exaltation  in  Him  as  the  risen  and 
glorified  Lord,  the  nature  of  its  ordinances,  and  the 
number  and  permanence  of  its  ministries.  He  saw 
that  to  the  Head  belonged  all  authority  and  rule, 
and  that  it  was  His  prerogative  to  appoint  His 
ministers;  to  the  Holy  Ghost  it  belonged  to  give 
them  their  spiritual  endowments. 

The  headship  of  Christ  thus  assumed  more  and 
more  importance,  and  the  apostolic  designation  of 
the  Church  as  "  His  body  "  acquired  a  continually 
deepening  significance.  Inquiry  as  to  the  priest- 
hood now  fulfilled  by  the  Lord  in  heaven,  and  as  to 
the  participation  of  the  Church  in  that  priesthood, 
naturally  followed. 

What  part  has  the  Church  in  His  present  work  of 
intercession  in  heaven  ?  What  place  has  prayer  in 
her  worship  ?  And  gradually  other  questions  arose: 
What  is  the  relation  of  the  Lord's  present  ofifice  as 
High  Priest  to  His  future  one  as  King  ?  What 
work  is  to  be  done  by  the  Church  in  the  world  be- 
fore He  can  return  ?  Is  there  to  be  any  special 
work  in  the  Church  to  prepare  His  children  for  His 
return  ?    And  how  is  this  preparation  to  be  effected  ? 

With  his  vision  clarified,  and  its  range  enlarged 


Current  Religious  Beliefs  21 

by  his  Scriptural  and  philosophical  studies,  and  with 
a  mind  naturally  seeking  unity,  he  began  early  in 
his  preaching  to  complement  the  truths  of  the  New- 
England  theology  by  other  truths  which,  if  not 
denied,  had  been  in  large  degree  thrust  out  of  sight. 
One  early  effect  of  these  studies  was  to  deliver  him 
from  the  belief,  then  universal  around  him,  of  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  primitive  form  of  the  Church 
as  extraordinary  and  temporary,  and  a  later  one  as 
ordinary  and  permanent.  He  saw  that  the  Church 
being  an  organism,  embracing  in  its  unity  of  life 
both  the  Head  and  the  body,  the  body  partook  of 
the  unchangeableness  of  the  Head,  and  must  remain 
the  same  organic  whole  till  the  end  God  proposed 
by  it  had  been  accomplished.  He  saw  that  its  life, 
as  that  of  the  risen  and  immortal  One,  was  a  super- 
natural life,  and  that  the  power  of  this  life  should 
be  seen  in  all  its  ordinances  and  ministries,  making 
them  great  and  blessed  realities. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  clear  conclusions 
to  which  Mr.  Andrews  ultimately  came  upon  all 
these  questions,  were  reached  by  him  till  years 
after  his  ordination ;  but  the  main  points  involved 
in  them  were  early  in  his  mind  and  objects  of  his 
Scriptural  studies,  and  their  relations  to  one  another 
were  seen  with  increasing  clearness.  During  all  his 
life  the  centre  of  all  his  teaching  was  the  Incarnation 
— the  revelation  of  God  in  the  Incarnate  Son,  and 
His  work  in  man's  redemption. 

Probably  the  point  which  Mr.  Andrews  presented 
earliest  in  his  preaching,  and  which  attracted  the 
most  attention  and  provoked  most  hostile  comment, 
was  the  return  of  the  Lord  to  earth  as  an  object  of 


22  William  Watson  Andrews 

hope.  He  showed  its  purpose,  and  the  place  it  held 
in  the  economy  of  redemption,  the  great  prac- 
tical importance  belonging  to  it,  and  the  duty  of 
ever  keeping  it  in  mind.  This  ran  so  counter  to  all 
the  current  beliefs  and  expectations,  that  his  teach- 
ing naturally  aroused  very  strong  opposition,  and 
was  the  subject  of  severe  censure,  not  as  wholly  un- 
scriptural,  but  as  having  a  depressing  influence  upon 
Christian  activity,  and  as  leading  the  mind  away 
from  present  duties  to  unprofitable  and  visionary 
speculations.  The  study  of  the  prophetic  Scriptures 
was  much  disparaged  in  all  quarters,  and  his  re- 
ligious friends,  and  especially  his  college  intimates, 
looked  upon  this  direction  of  his  studies  with  much 
alarm,  especially  those  regarding  the  Lord's  advent. 
Expecting  much  from  him,  they  saw  that  he  was 
accepting  beliefs  which  would  so  affect  him  in  the 
estimation  of  the  general  religious  public  as  to  shut 
many  pulpits  against  him,  and  would  be  an  effectual 
bar  to  any  ecclesiastical  advancement.  He  had 
many  letters  of  remonstrance  and  warning.  A 
near  relative,  a  missionary,  wrote  to  him  that  there 
could  be  no  revivals  where  the  Lord's  advent  was 
preached,  and  that  no  one  believing  in  this  would 
go  as  a  missionary  to  the  heathen.  As  early  as  1833 
he  writes:  "  I  fear  my  life  is  not  to  be  so  tranquil 
and  unruffled  as  I  have  all  along  been  dreaming.  My 
friends  are  anxious.  Rumor  with  her  thousand 
tongues  is  becoming  very  busy  with  my  name.  My 
father  turns  down  a  leaf  in  Wilson's  Sernions  point- 
ing to  a  warning  on  the  study  of  the  unfulfilled 
prophecies."  He  mentions  other  cases  in  which 
the  clergymen  who  knew  him  lamented  the  errors 


Current  Religious  Beliefs  23 

into  which  he  was  falling.  But  he  was  not  moved ; 
he  writes  in  a  letter:  "  It  is  my  heart's  desire  and 
daily  prayer  to  God  to  be  guided  into  all  truth,  and 
sure  I  am  that  He  will  not  always  suffer  me  to  be  in 
error  and  darkness.  No  desire  of  distinguishing 
myself  shall  lead  me  to  adopt  a  single  doctrine. 
But  I  shall  follow  the  truth  of  God  where  it  shall 
lead  me,  well  knowing  that  if  I  am  in  the  right  road 
here,  I  shall  find  it  both  narrow  and  strait  and 
thorny.  Rebuke  me  if  I  deserve  rebuke,  and  I  will 
receive  it  with  meekness;  and  help  me  by  your 
prayers  and  counsels  to  find  that  wisdom  which  is 
dearer  than  hid  treasures." 

Of  Mr.  Andrews  in  his  study  of  the  Scriptures,  it 
might  be  said  in  his  own  words,  written  of  Irving: 

It  was  not  an  intellectual  process  merely,  but  his 
whole  spiritual  being  had  part  in  it.  .  .  .  No 
truth  that  did  not  touch  his  heart  as  well  as  his 
understanding,  could  take  deep  root  within  him." 

The  anxiety  with  which  his  friends  regarded  his 
prophetical  studies  was  greatly  increased  by  the  un- 
concealed interest  he  took  in  the  development  of  the 
religious  movement  in  Scotland.  As  has  been  said, 
he  did  not  at  first  accept  the  spiritual  phenomena — 
the  tongues  and  prophesyings  —  as  the  undoubted 
utterances  of  the  Spirit,  but  studied  the  Scriptures 
to  learn  their  nature,  and  whether  such  utterances 
were  possible  in  our  day.  He  writes:  "  My  feeling 
as  I  read  of  the  utterances  of  holy  men  and  women 
of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  was,  that  here  was  a  phe- 
nomenon worth  looking  into ;  and  I  resolved  to 
study  the  New  Testament  and  find  what  it  said  on  the 
subject  of  spiritual  gifts.     This  was  the  beginning 


24  William  Watson  Andrews 

of  my  interest  in  this  religious  movement,  then 
in  its  earHest  infancy.  I  was  in  no  connection  with 
its  leaders,  and  knew  no  one,  indeed,  for  years  who 
believed  it."  In  a  letter  written  in  1834,  he  says: 
"  You  know  I  have  never  formed  a  decided  opinion 
respecting  the  genuineness  of  '  the  gifts,'  having 
been  contented  to  say  that,  for  anything  I  knew, 
they  might  be  genuine." 

It  is  not  strange  that  Mr.  Andrews'  friends  should 
have  regarded  his  growing  belief  in  the  genuineness 
of  the  spiritual  phenomena  in  Scotland  with  deep 
regret  and  anxiety,  for  almost  the  whole  religious 
press  of  Scotland  and  England  declared  them  to  be 
a  delusion,  if  not  also  in  part  imposture.' 

'  Some  extracts  from  English  periodicals  will  serve  to  show  how 
vehemently  the  reality,  and  even  the  possibility,  of  the  restoration  of 
miracles  and  of  the  primitive  gifts  was  denied.  Thus  it  was  said  in 
the  Editibjirgk  Review  of  June,  1S31,  of  the  alleged  gifts  and 
powers  :  "  Our  readers  will  be  surprised  at  this  discussion  as  making 
these  claims  the  subject  of  argument  rather  than  of  mere  unmitigated 
contempt."  It  describes  a  belief  in  their  reality  as  "absurd  and 
revolutionary,"  and  as  "building  up  a  false  and  hypochondriacal 
religion."  "  The  history  of  Protestantism  is  the  uniform  disclaimer 
of  the  existence  of  any  promises  in  the  Scriptures  that  miraculous 
powers  should  be  continued  in  the  Church."  The  Christian  Ob- 
server— the  organ  of  the  Low  Church  party — declared  in  regard  to 
the  cases  of  supposed  healing  :  ' '  Any  other  solution  must  be  received 
rather  than  that  of  a  miracle."  The  writer  of  a  book  entitled 
Modern  Fattaticism,  speaks  of  "  the  revival  of  some  ancient  and 
long- forgotten  hallucinations,"  of  "  persons  of  a  wild  and  erratic  turn 
of  mind,"  of  "exhibitions  of  fanatical  extravagance."  "It  is  the 
general  conviction  of  the  Protestant  Church  that  miracles  ceased 
nearly  seventeen  hundred  years  ago,  their  design  being  fully  and 
finally  accomplished."  It  was  assumed  by  all  that  the  gift  of  tongues 
was  for  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  that,  with  prophecy,  it  had 
long  since  ceased.  Any  supposed  spiritual  utterance  in  our  day 
condemned  itself  ;  it  could  not  be  of  God. 


Current  Religious  Beliefs  25 

These  expressions  of  unbelief  and  of  severe  con- 
demnation were  repeated  in  the  rehgious  press  of 
America,  and  were  universally  accepted  as  just. 
Mr.  Andrews  did  not  for  years  know  of  any  one 
who  believed  that  the  spiritual  utterances  were  of 
God,  or  who  felt  any  interest  in  the  inquiry  whether 
they  were  or  not.  He  found  no  sympathy  in  any 
quarter.  All  his  friends  wondered  at  his  willingness 
to  reconsider  questions  of  ecclesiastical  polity  that 
the  Church  had  long  ago  decided,  and  to  accept  as 
genuine  the  spiritual  manifestations  which  those 
regarded  as  her  wisest  and  best  leaders  rejected. 

But  the  friends  who  knew  him  best,  though 
greatly  regretting  the  direction  his  mind  was  taking 
in  these  investigations,  yet  did  not  doubt  that  he 
would  stand  fast  in  the  essential  elements  of  the 
Christian  faith.  Probably  they  looked  upon  the 
movement  in  England  as  an  evanescent  one,  which 
he  would  himself  renounce,  though  he  might  con- 
tinue to  hold  some  beliefs  respecting  the  Church 
not  held  in  the  Congregational  churches  of  New 
England.  There  was,  therefore,  as  has  been  already 
said,  no  objection  made,  so  far  as  is  known,  to  his 
ordination. 


CHAPTER  III 


PASTORATE   AT   KENT 


KENT,  the  place  of  Mr.  Andrews'  residence  for 
so  long  a  period,  is  a  small  town  lying  on  the 
Housatonic  River,  in  Litchfield  County,  Con- 
necticut. On  the  west  ran  the  stream,  and  close 
behind  it  rose  a  ridge  of  granite  hills,  precipitous 
and  craggy.  To  the  east  were  rugged  and  swelling 
uplands.  Writing  of  it  in  later  years,  he  says: 
"  When  I  came  to  dwell  in  this  secluded  but  beau- 
tiful valley,  with  its  sweet  flowing  river  and  rocky 
ramparts  of  hills,  it  was  then  shut  out  from  the 
world  far  more  than  now.  No  iron  road  threaded 
the  valley.  If  we  Avould  reach  the  cities  of  our  own 
State,  it  must  be  by  slow  and  tedious  journeys  over 
steep  and  rugged  hills,  or  along  the  sandy  river 
roads."  But  its  natural  position  gave  it  many 
charms,  and  these  soon  got  a  strong  hold  upon  him. 
He  writes:  "  It  seemed  a  fit  spot  for  quiet  and 
study  and  the  pastoral  life,  shut  out  as  it  was  from 
the  noise  and  bustle  of  the  world,  and  inviting  to  de- 
vout meditation  and  communion  with  the  Creator  of 
all  this  beauty."     Writing  soon  after  his  ordination 

26 


Pastorate  at  Kent  27 

to  a  friend,  he  says:  *'  I  have  no  room  now  to 
describe  Kent;  you  must  come  and  see  it.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  perfectly  rural  villages  in  Connecti- 
cut. It  has  a  river,  the  Housatonic,  running  at  the 
foot  of  a  range  of  mountains;  and  thereby  to  the 
everlasting  hills  it  adds  the  other  elements  of  motion 
and  progression.  My  favorite  walks  are  on  the 
banks  of  the  river,  and  on  "  the  ridge," — a  long, 
winding,  and  very  regular  swell  of  land,  three  or 
four  rods  wide,  and  from  ten  to  thirty  feet  high, 
covered  with  beautiful  forest  trees;  on  a  hot  day  it 
is  a  delightful  retreat." 

Mr.  Andrews  continued  in  the  pastoral  charge  of 
the  Congregational  church  in  Kent  from  May,  1834, 
to  May,  1849.  This  period  of  fifteen  years  may  be 
divided  into  two  parts  by  his  visit  to  England  in 

1843. 

From  the  extent  of  its  territory  the  pastoral  care 
of  his  parish  took  most  of  his  time.  In  a  letter  to 
his  old  parishioners  in  Kent  on  the  150th  anniversary 
of  the  church  (1891),  he  thus  speaks  of  his  early 
ministry:  "  The  services  on  Sunday  in  the  church, 
and  a  third  on  summer  afternoons  in  the  outlying 
districts,  and  in  the  centre  schoolhouse  on  winter 
evenings  ;  a  Thursday  afternoon  prayer-meeting 
for  the  church,  and  most  of  the  year  a  weekly 
lecture  in  the  remoter  parts  of  the  parish :  this  was 
the  ordinary  routine."  To  this  must  be  added  the 
official  work  of  visiting  the  schools  of  the  town. 
But  he  still  found  much  time  for  study.  He  read 
at  this  period  largely  in  the  Fathers,  both  Greek 
and  Latin;  in  the  schoolmen,  and  particularly  in 
St.  Thomas    Aquinas;    in    the    theologians    of    the 


28         William  Watson  Andrews 

Reformation,  both  Churchmen  and  Dissenters — the 
Independent,  Thomas  Goodwin,  being  an  especial 
favorite  with  him ;  as  also  were  the  theological 
writings  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon.  Although  reading 
German  easily,  he  did  not  take  much  interest  in 
German  theology,  or  make  much  effort  to  keep  up 
with  its  rapidly  changing  phases. 

It  was  to  the  Scriptures  that  he  devoted  most  of 
his  time  and  attention.  These  he  read  constantly 
in  the  Hebrew  and  Greek.  In  the  minor  questions 
of  chronology  and  archaeology  he  took  comparatively 
little  interest.  Accepting  the  Bible  as  a  truthful 
record  of  God's  dealings  with  men  in  the  execution 
of  His  purpose  in  the  Son,  he  saw  in  it  such  a  unity 
that  the  disintegrating  modern  criticism  had  little 
influence  upon  him.  Starting  with  the  primal 
promise  of"  The  Seed  of  the  woman  who  should 
bruise  the  serpent's  head,"  he  saw  in  all  history, 
secular  and  sacred,  the  Divine  hand  preparing  the 
way  for  the  fulfilment  of  that  promise.  The  small 
discrepancies  and  seeming  contradictions  in  the  his- 
torical narratives  of  the  Bible  did  not  trouble  him, 
for  he  believed  that  time  and  larger  knowledge 
would  explain  many ;  and  the  unity  of  purpose  mani- 
fest in  the  Scriptures,  from  Genesis  to  the  Revela- 
tion, was  its  own  evidence  that  one  Spirit  had  guided 
the  writers.  And  he  saw  in  secular  history  the  hand 
of  God  ruling  the  nations,  and  overruling  all  events 
to  the  final  accomplishment  of  His  purpose.  It  was 
in  the  light  of  this  purpose  as  revealed,  and  in  part 
already  fulfilled,  that  he  studied  the  past,  and 
scrutinized  the  present,  and  looked  forward  to  the 
future. 


Pastorate  at  Kent  29 

Early  after  his  ordination  Mr.  Andrews  was  asked 
to  become  a  member  of  "  The  Pastoral  Union  " 
of  Connecticut,  an  association  of  Congregational 
clergymen  formed  for  the  defense  of  the  orthodox 
faith  against  prevalent  forms  of  heresy  and  error. 
Though  sympathizing  fully  with  the  end  proposed, 
he  declined  to  become  a  member.  The  ground  of 
his  declination,  as  appears  from  a  memorandum  in 
the  form  of  a  letter  found  among  his  papers,  was 
that  voluntary  unions  of  this  kind  were  attempts  to 
do  what  the  Church  only  could  do.  He  says: 
"  The  ground  of  my  hesitation  has  been  the  doubt 
I  have  as  to  the  principle  of  such  unions.  The 
Church  is  God's  own  institution,  and  was  in  the 
beginning  provided  with  all  the  necessary  means  of 
defense.  If  the  Church  has  fallen  into  weakness 
and  danger,  it  becomes  her  ministers  who  discern 
the  evil,  to  stand  every  one  in  his  place,  bearing  on 
their  hearts  the  iniquities  of  God's  people,  making 
continual  intercession  on  their  behalf,  and  strength- 
ening the  things  that  remain  and  are  ready  to  die. 
In  this  way,  and  not  by  means  that  are  of  man's 
invention  and  not  of  God's  appointment,  can  the 
evil  be  stayed.  .  .  .  The  Lord's  way  for  the 
edifying  of  the  Church  is  better  than  man's,  and 
the  time  will  doubtless  come  when  all  human  inven- 
tions for  its  defense  and  blessing  will  be  put  aside, 
and  His  own  ongoings  be  seen  in  His  Sanctuary. 
But  while  I  cannot  for  this  reason  become 
a  member  of  the  Pastoral  Union,  it  is  no  doubt  the 
duty  of  those  who  belong  to  it  to  abide  in  it,  seek- 
ing to  make  it,  and  the  Seminary  under  its  control, 
a  blessing  to  the  churches." 


30  William  Watson  Andrews 

This  serves  to  show  how  early  the  conception  of 
the  Church  as  one  body,  and  of  the  unity  of  its 
action,  had  taken  possession  of  Mr.  Andrews'  mind. 
He  saw  in  the  application  of  the  voluntary  prin- 
ciple to  it  a  denial  of  its  unity,  and  the  occasion  of 
divisions  without  end;  and  the  present  great  multi- 
plication of  these  partial,  self-constituted  unions, 
making  them,  rather  than  the  Church,  the  centre  of 
interest  and  of  Christian  activity,  shows  the  correct- 
ness of  his  judgment. 

Having  spent  the  larger  part  of  the  time  after 
leaving  college  in  the  vicinity  of  Kent,  Mr.  An- 
drews was  personally  known  to  most  of  the  Con- 
gregational ministers  of  that  part  of  the  State,  and 
it  was  a  pleasure  to  him  to  meet  them  in  the  various 
gatherings  held  for  ecclesiastical  purposes,  or  Bible 
study  and  fraternal  intercourse.  His  brethren,  if 
not  always  agreeing  with  him,  or  perhaps  not 
understanding  him  fully,  found  his  papers  read  be- 
fore them  carefully  prepared  and  luminous.  It  was 
said  by  one  of  them  in  after  years  that  "  he  touched 
nothing  which  he  did  not  adorn." 

In  1835  Mr.  Andrews  was  invited  as  a  substitute 
to  deliver  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  oration  at  New 
Haven.  This  was  given  in  August,  and  was  printed 
in  the  Christian  Spectator  of  September,  1837,  prob- 
ably recast,  under  the  title.  The  Relations  of  Law 
and  of  a  Revere7itial  Spirit  to  Individual  and  National 
Prosperity. 

In  April,  1836,  Mr.  Andrews'  classmate  and  dear 
friend,  Noah  Porter,  Jr.,  was  settled  over  the  Con- 
gregational church  in  New  Milford,  the  town 
adjoining  Kent  on  the  south.     This  was  a  great 


Pastorate  at  Kent  31 

pleasure  to  him.  In  his  paper  in  the  Life  of  Porter 
he  remarks:  "  Our  parishes  bordered  on  each  other, 
and  for  seven  years  our  intercourse  was  frequent 
and  most  affectionate.  For  a  part  of  the  time  we 
preached  for  each  other  the  lecture  preparatory  to 
the  Communion.  .  .  .  We  exchanged  pulpits 
at  other  times  also,  and  assisted  each  other  in  week- 
day services  in  seasons  of  religious  awakening." 

Another  clergyman  early  came  into  the  immedi- 
ate neighborhood  of  Mr.  Andrews,  with  whom  he 
formed  a  friendship  that  continued  for  forty  years — 
the  Rev.  Adam  Reid,  of  Salisbury.  Mr.  Andrews 
preached  his  ordination  sermon,  September  26,  1837. 
One  bond  of  union  was  their  common  belief  in  the 
Lord's  speedy  return. 

On  January  i,  1838,  his  father,  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational church  in  Cornwall,  died,  and  he  was 
invited  to  take  his  place.  It  was  pending  his  answer 
to  this  invitation  that  the  charge  of  "  Irvingism  " 
was  first  publicly  brought  against  him.  It  was 
made  by  a  former  pastor  of  that  church,  still  residing 
in  the  town,  as  an  objection  to  his  assuming  the 
pastorate.  The  incident  is  worthy  of  mention  as 
showing  the  general  belief  of  the  older  ministers  of 
that  day  in  regard  to  missions,  and  to  the  Roman 
Church  as  apostate. 

In  a  long  letter  sent  to  Mr.  Andrews  he  says: 

Excepting  your  peculiar  views  of  Irvingism,  none 
will  be  more  willing  that  you  should  be  our  minister 
than  your  sincere  friend."  The  writer  goes  on  to 
define  what  he  meant  by  "  Irvingism,"  distinguish- 
ing it  from  the  Pre-Millennial  belief — "  which  was 
no  heresy,  and  had  been  held  by  many  in  the  earliest 


32  William  Watson  Andrews 

times."  He  defines  Irvingism  as  holding  "several 
great  errors":  i.  That  the  efforts  to  convert  the 
world  without  the  aid  of  miracles  are  futile  and 
useless;  and  also  as  denying  the  value  of  many  of 
the  missionary  societies  and  religious  associations 
of  the  day.  2.  In  showing  forth  the  wickedness 
of  the  last  days  as  if  foretold  in  prophecy,  it  has 
"  greatly  slandered  and  calumniated  the  Church," 
and  especially  the  Protestant  churches,  in  applying 
these  prophecies  to  them  "  as  much  as  to  the  apos- 
tate Church  of  Rome."  3.  In  claiming  for  its 
friends  that  they  only  constitute  the  true  and  pure 
Church  of  Christ. 

Besides  these  specifications  of  errors,  he  affirms 
that  a  belief  in  present  spiritual  gifts  and  miracles 
must  necessarily  lead  to  the  wildest  fanaticism  and 
disorder. 

That  these  objections  were  very  serious  in  the 
mind  of  the  writer,  he  often  affirms:  "  Believing 
all  this,  as  I  solemnly  do,  I  appeal  to  my  brethren 
whether  I  am  not  bound  to  give  this  admonition 
and  warning.  ...  I  love  the  person,  the 
talents,  and  amiable  deportment  of  Mr.  Andrews; 
but  I  love  the  cause  of  religion  and  peace  of  the 
churches  as  of  infinite  importance.  .  .  .  Duty 
imperiously  urges  me  to  perform  a  very  painful 
service."  ' 

'  As  the  terms  "  Irvingism"  and  "  Irvingite"  first  meet  us  here, 
and  have  been  continually  used  since,  as  terms  of  odium,  it  may  be 
well  to  consider  the  ground  of  their  use. 

To  have  a  single  term  to  describe  a  complex  movement  is  a  con- 
venience, and  such  movements  have  often  been  designated  by  the 
name  of  some  one  especially  prominent  in  them.  It  was  so  with  the 
ritualistic  movement  in  England,  for  a  time  designated  as  Puseyism, 


Pastorate  at  Kent  33 

The  invitation  to  Cornwall  he  declined.  After 
stating  some  reasons  why  the  invitation  to  take  the 
place  of  his  father  was  especially  grateful  to  him, 
he  adds:  **  But  I  am  now  the  pastor  of  a  people 
who  were  first  united  in  me  after  a  long  period  of 
division  and  gloom,  and  our  relation  has  been  per- 
fectly harmonious,  I  am  bound  to  consider  the 
effect  of  my  removal  upon  their  future  peace  and 
prosperity.  ...  I  would  also  say  that  I  have 
ever  felt  opposed  to  the  removal  of  ministers  for 
any  but  the  most  weighty  reasons.  .  .  .  But 
in  my  own  case,  though  in  many  respects  it  would 
be  very  gratifying  to   my  feelings,  and  would  be 

and  its  friends  as  Puseyites.  But  as  the  unfitness  of  this  name  soon 
became  apparent,  it  was  dropped,  and  one  impersonal  and  more 
characteristic  given  to  the  movement. 

But  with  the  term  "  Irvingism  "  this  was  far  otherwise.  It  was 
persistently  asserted,  and  continues  to  be  to  this  day,  that  Mr.  Irving 
was  the  head  and  leader  of  the  movement ;  and  thus  its  characteristic 
feature,  as  under  the  rule  and  guidance  of  a  college  of  men  believ- 
ing themselves  to  be  called  of  God  to  the  apostleship,  was  wholly 
ignored. 

A  brief  statement  will  show  that  Mr.  Irving  held  no  such  place  in 
the  work  as  thus  ascribed  to  him. 

The  death  of  Edward  Irving  took  place  in  December,  1834.  The 
first  Apostle  was  called  in  1S32,  and  a  second  in  1833.  In  April, 
1833,  Mr.  Irving  was  ordained  by  them,  and  during  that  year  several 
congregations  were  gathered  and  their  ministers  ordained. 

This  simple  statement  suffices  to  show  how  historically  inaccurate 
it  is  to  speak  of  Mr.  Irving  as  "the  founder  of  a  sect,  which  is 
rightly  called  by  his  name."  Not  only  did  the  movement  begin  in 
Scotland  among  persons  wholly  unknown  to  him,  but  his  part  in  its 
later  stage  was  a  subordinate  one.  He  himself  had  no  spiritual 
utterance  ;  he  acknowledged  others  to  be  over  him  in  the  Lord,  and 
received  ordination  at  their  hands,  and  by  them  was  set  in  charge  of 
a  congregation.  He  died  a  year  and  a  half  after  this,  and  before 
the  Apostolic  College  was  filled. 
3 


34         William  Watson  Andrews 

greatly  to  my  advantage  in  a  pecuniary  point  of 
view,  yet  I  cannot  but  think  that  you  will  on  reflec- 
tion approve  of  my  decision  as  calculated  to  give 
more  stability  to  the  pastoral  relation,  and  as  being 
such  as  you  would  wish  to  see  imitated  by  your  own 
pastor  in  like  circumstances." 

On  July  31,  1 841,  he  preached  the  installation 
sermon  of  his  brother,  E.  W,  Andrews,  over  the 
Broadway  Tabernacle  Church  in  New  York.  Of 
this  sermon  the  New  York  Observer,  some  years 
after,  said:  "  We  recall  hearing  some  ten  years  ago 
a  sermon  of  the  Rev.  W.  W.  Andrews,  of  Kent, 
Ct.  .  .  .  At  this  time  he  was  prophesying 
of  the  speedy  coming  of  Christ  to  establish  His 
kingdom  in  person  on  the  earth.  We  do  not  think 
any  man  on  this  continent  advocated  that  doctrine 
with  more  ability,  learning,  and  sincerity  than  he." 

During  this  period,  though  devoting  himself  to 
his  pastoral  work,  he  watched  carefully  the  progress 
of  the  religious  movement  in  England.  This  in 
1835  entered  upon  a  new  phase.  It  was  now  under 
the  guidance  of  twelve  men  believing  themselves 
called  of  God  to  the  office  of  Apostle. 

It  was  natural  that  they  who  denied  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  earlier  spiritual  manifestations,  and 
af^rmed  them  to  be  delusions  or  worse,  looking 
upon  this  further  development  as  a  higher  form  of 
the  delusion,  should  say:  Now  we  will  see  into 
what  doctrinal  errors  and  fanatical  excesses  these 
self-commissioned  and  deluded  men  will  run.  Their 
work  will  speedily  show  the  falsity  of  their  claims, 
for  no  men  can  assume  such  an  office  and  fulfil  it, 
who  are  not  called  of  God. 


Pastorate  at  Kent  35 

And  in  this  expectation  they  were  undoubtedly 
right.  No  man  can  of  his  own  will  assume  an  office 
in  His  Church  to  which  God  has  not  called  him, 
and  rightly  fulfil  it.  And  this  is  pre-eminently 
true  of  the  highest  office  in  it  —  the  apostolic. 
Those  who  without  any  warrant  take  upon  them- 
selves the  most  sacred  and  solemn  duties, — to  order 
the  worship  of  God's  house,  to  define  its  doctrines, 
to  ordain  its  ministers,  and  to  minister  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost, — will  speedily  find  their  work  worse 
than  vain  ;  and  its  results  will  show  that  they  have  not 
been  sent  of  God,  but  have  been  serving  His  great 
enemy. 

Mr.  Andrews,  therefore,  could  not  but  regard 
with  intense  interest,  and  not  without  mixture  of 
anxiety,  the  teaching  and  acts  of  the  new  Apostles. 
It  is  no  part  of  this  Memorial  to  speak  of  their  work 
in  its  historical  details,  and  it  will  be  referred  to 
only  so  far  as  is  'necessary  to  show  the  ground  of 
his  growing  belief  in  it  as  a  Divine  work. 

The  first  step  taken  by  the  Apostles  was  a  de- 
claration of  principles  in  the  form  of  Testimonies. 
The  first  was  addressed  to  the  Bishops  of  the  Church 
of  England ;  the  second  and  larger  to  all  the  Patri- 
archs, Archbishops,  and  Bishops,  and  to  the  reign- 
ing Sovereigns  of  Christendom.  This  Avas  translated 
into  French,  German,  and  other  languages,  and  also 
into  Latin.  These  Testimonies  were  presented,  as 
far  as  possible,  personally  to  those  to  whom  they 
were  addressed. 

In  the  last,  the  Divine  constitution  of  the 
Church,  and  its  relations  to  the  State,  were  set 
forth,  and  the  failure  on  the  part  of  both  to  fulfil 


3^         William  Watson  Andrews 

the  duties  of  these  relations,  and  the  judgments 
impending  if  there  were  no  repentance. 

These  statements  of  principles,  though  probably- 
received  by  those  addressed  for  the  most  part  with 
indifference  and  neglect,  not  to  say  even  with  con- 
tempt, showed  them  at  least  that  they  were  not 
dealing  with  fanatics,  nor  with  men  working  in 
secret,  but  with  men  who  had  a  clear  perception  of 
the  evils,  religious  and  civil,  of  the  times,  and  of 
their  causes,  and,  as  they  believed,  of  the  Divinely 
appointed  remedy ;  and  who  honored  the  existing 
rulers  in  Church  and  State.  The  principles  laid 
down  in  these  Testimonies  Mr.  Andrews  accepted  as 
true,  and  wholly  in  accord  with  the  teaching  of  the 
Apostles  in  the  beginning,  as  given  in  their  Epistles. 

But  equally  vital  was  the  point:  How  would  the 
Apostles  execute  their  apostolic  commission  to 
prepare  the  Lord's  way  in  His  Church  ?  Plainly 
they  could  not  do  this  except  among  those  who  ac- 
cepted their  apostolic  authority.  If  rejected  by 
the  several  ecclesiastical  bodies  through  their  heads, 
they  must  address  themselves  to  such  as  would  hear 
them,  and  gather  and  organize  distinct  congrega- 
tions. This  was  a  matter  of  necessity,  not  of 
choice.  This  action,  though  it  seemed  divisive, 
and  the  beginning  of  a  new  sect,  did  not  appear 
such  to  Mr.  Andrews.  It  was  what  the  Apostles  in 
the  beginning  did  in  gathering  congregations  out  of 
the  Jewish  Church,  which  had  refused  in  its  leaders 
to  acknowledge  their  Divine  commission.  He  saw 
that  the  work  of  Apostles  was  in  its  very  nature 
catholic,  to  build  up  and  not  to  pull  down,  to 
unite  and  not   to    separate;    and  if  they   gathered 


Pastorate  at  Kent  37 

congregations,  it  was  because  in  no  other  way  could 
the  full  order  of  the  Lord's  house  in  ministries,  ordi- 
nances, and  worship  be  seen,  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
work  in  the  fulness  of  His  operations.  If  rejected 
by  the  leaders  of  the  several  religious  parties,  the 
only  possible  way  for  the  exercise  of  their  ministry 
was  to  gather  such  as  would  receive  them,  as  was 
the  case  in  the  early  Christian  churches,  and  find  in 
them  the  nucleus  of  the  future  unity  of  all. 

It  v%^as  not  till  1838  that  Mr.  Andrews  came  into 
any  personal  intercourse  with  those  serving  under 
Apostles.  These  were  living  in  Canada,  the  Rev. 
A.  W.  Burwell,  previously  a  minister  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  Mr.  George  Ryerson.  Both  these 
were  men  of  marked  intellectual  ability  and  spiritual 
discernment.  Mr.  Andrews'  correspondence  with 
them  helped  him  greatly  to  understand  the  aims 
and  to  appreciate  the  spirit  of  the  apostolic  work, 
and  to  keep  him  advised  of  its  progress.  In  1840 
he  visited  Kingston,  Canada,  and  learned  from  per- 
sonal observation  more  fully  the  organization  of  the 
Church,  and  the  order  of  worship. 

In  March,  1840,  Dr.  Horace  Bushnell,  pastor  of 
the  Third  Congregational  Church  in  Hartford, 
having  received  an  invitation  to  take  the  presidency 
of  Middlebury  College,  Vermont,  wrote  to  Mr. 
Andrews  in  regard  to  his  willingness  to  succeed  him 
in  his  pastorate  if  he  should  go  to  Middlebur>'.  "  I 
have  gone  so  far  [in  the  consideration  of  the  matter] 
as  to  think  of  some  one  who  should  succeed  me 
here,  and  my  heart  has  turned  toward  you."  He 
asks  him  to  come  and  preach  for  him,  and  adds  some 
remarks  concerning  the  character  of  his  sermons: 


SS         William  Watson  Andrews 

"  If  you  come,  I  hope  you  will  preach  on  some  of  the 
common  practical  subjects  in  which  you  are  not  peculiar. 
Preach  at  their  conscience  and  heart.  Indeed,  my  dear 
friend,  I  wish  you  would  put  by  your  peculiar  notions  till 
you  have  made  a  character  by  something  else.  The 
more  I  think  of  them,  the  further  I  am  from  receiving 
them;  but  I  say  this  not  to  choke  you  off,  but  only  to 
urge  an  adjournment  of  these  subjects  for  a  future  time. 
I  do  it  because  these  peculiarities  stand  so  much  in  your 
way  —  in  the  way  of  your  standing,  and  so  of  your  useful- 
ness. I  have  unbounded  confidence  in  your  talents,  and 
long  to  see  you  taking  your  place.  May  not  the  course 
I  suggest  be  a  duty,  even  though  you  should  hold  your 
opinions  ?  " 

Of  this  kindly  and  well-meant  caution  it  may  be 
remarked  that,  while  Mr.  Andrews  could  not  be 
ignorant  how  greatly  his  reputation  would  suffer  in 
the  estimation  of  most  religious  people  through  his 
"  peculiar  notions,"  this  had  very  little  influence 
upon  him.  His  whole  life  shows  that  he  did  not 
seek  the  honor  that  comes  from  men,  and  would 
not  conceal  his  beliefs  to  preserve  his  reputation. 

As  to  "  practical  "  preaching,  he  knew  that  the 
deepest  truth  relating  to  the  nature  and'  purposes 
of  God,  faithfully  held,  is  the  most  practical.  It 
would  in  the  end  more  affect  the  conduct  and  mould 
the  life  than  any  words,  however  pungent,  bearing 
upon  the  performance  of  daily  duties.  As  only  the 
spiritually  strong  can  fully  do  God's  work,  and  this 
strength  can  come  only  through  the  indwelling  of 
the  Spirit,  the  question,  How  can  the  Spirit  fill 
God's  children  with  His  full  power  ?  is  one  of 
highest     practical    importance;    and    this    can    be 


Pastorate  at  Kent  39 

answered  only  by  considering  the  constitution  of  the 
Church,  the  place  and  prerogatives  of  the  Head, 
and  the  nature  and  place  of  those  ordinances  through 
which  the  Spirit  can  act  upon  its  members.  Ful- 
ness of  work  for  God  by  individual  Christians  can 
be  found  only  where  is  fulness  of  life  in  Christ's 
body — the  Church. 

As  Dr.  Bushnell  declined  the  invitation  to  Middle- 
bury,  the  matter  went  no  further. 

During  the  year  1842  Mr.  Andrews  suffered  much 
from  loss  of  voice  and  weakness  of  the  eyes,  being 
thus  disabled  from  public  labor  for  several  months, 
and  obliged  to  call  upon  others  to  help  him  in  his 
pulpit  services.  Among  others  helping  him  was 
Augustus  Hewitt,  afterward  one  of  the  Paulist 
Fathers,  and  the  Superior  of  the  Order  in  New 
York.  The  son  of  a  Congregational  minister,  he 
was  educated  at  Amherst  College,  and  studied 
theology  at  the  East  Windsor  Congregational 
Seminary.  In  January,  1843,  ^^  preached  on  two 
successive  Sundays  at  Kent,  spending  the  week  with 
Mr.  Andrews,  A  few  weeks  after  he  was  rebaptized 
by  Dr.  Croswell  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  a  little 
later  became  a  priest  in  that  Communion.  Some 
years  after  he  was  received  into  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church;  and  in  1846  published  a  pamphlet  giving 
at  length  his  reasons  for  this  step.  In  this  he  ex- 
presses his  regret  that  he  had  been  rebaptized,  and 
his  belief  that  he  "  was  truly  and  sufficiently  bap- 
tized in  infancy  by  his  father." 

The  charge  was  made  by  some  of  Mr.  Hewitt's 
friends  that  Mr.  Andrews  had  counselled  him  to  re- 
nounce his  ministry  in  the  Congregational  Church, 


40         William  Watson  Andrews 

and  receive  ordination  from  a  bishop,  and  consider- 
able prejudice  was  awakened  against  him  among  his 
Congregational  brethren  on  this  ground;  but  this 
was  wholly  unfounded. 

He  knew  that  Mr.  Hewitt  held  high  ground  as  to 
the  Church,  its  sacraments  and  its  ministries,  and 
was  much  interested  in  the  Oxford  Movement,  but 
had  no  thought  that  he  was  intending  to  enter 
another  Communion.  This  appears  from  a  letter 
written  by  him  to  Porter  from  Ireland,  June,  1843, 
when  he  heard  that  Mr.  Hewitt  had  been  rebaptized. 
"  I  am  sorry  to  hear  what  you  write  me  about  Augus- 
tus Hewitt.  How  crazy  men  are  made  by  a  little 
truth !  He  wanted  to  be  a  Catholic,  and  became  a 
schismatic  at  the  first  jump.  The  Oxford  Move- 
ment is  a  one-sided  thing,  and  although  I  like 
much  in  it,  its  tracts  might  have  been  written  in 
secula  seculorum  without  ever  disturbing  me  in  my 
Congregational  corner." 

In  the  pamphlet  of  Mr.  Hewitt  already  alluded 
to,  he  speaks  of  the  apostolic  work  in  England  as 
under  the  direction  of  men  of  learning,  rank,  and 
intelligence,  but  rejects  it  because  of  his  belief  in 
the  infallibility  of  the  Church,  which  makes  a  falling 
away  and  any  loss  of  ministries  impossible. 

The  Tractarian  Movement  in  England  did  not 
greatly  interest  Mr.  Andrews,  for  he  saw  in  it  no 
such  assertion  of  fundamental  principles  as  would 
give  a  basis  for  Church  unity.  But  he  saw  in  the 
Movement  a  step  preparatory  to  one  which  would 
go  far  deeper.  In  1843  he  wrote:  "  God  is  working 
in  His  providence  and  by  His  Holy  Spirit  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the   reception   of   His  truth   and    His 


Pastorate  at  Kent  41 

ordinances.  Thus  this  Movement,  though  it  will 
degenerate  into  Popery  in  time,  has  been  the  means 
of  awakening  the  minds  of  multitudes  to  think  of  the 
sacraments  as  the  channels  of  His  blessings."  But 
he  saw  that  the  great  questions,  both  of  polity  and 
doctrine,  between  the  Churches  of  England  and 
Rome  were  not  settled,  nor  could  he  look  upon  the 
revival  of  some  primitive  rites  and  usages  and  forms 
of  worship  as  entitling  the  Movement  to  the  name  of 
a  Catholic  Revival.  It  would,  he  believed,  eventually 
divide  the  Church  of  England  by  the  diffusion  of 
principles  which  the  constitution  of  the  Church  as 
united  to  the  State  would  not  permit  to  be  carried 
out ;  and  would  lead  many  of  its  advocates  to  Rome, 
as  was  early  the  case  with  Newman,  Manning,  and 
m.any  others.  It  should,  however,  be  said  that  he 
recognized  in  later  years  more  of  spiritual  power 
in  it  than  he  at  first  believed. 

It  must  be  regarded  as  fortunate  that  Mr.  Andrews 
was  from  the  first  led  to  consider  the  constitution  of 
the  Church — its  ministries  and  gifts  and  ordinances 
— as  it  is  set  forth  in  the  New  Testament,  and  thus 
to  study  it  in  its  original  form  rather  than  in  any 
post-apostolic  forms.  He  made  this  original  consti- 
tution the  standard  by  which  to  judge  the  various 
forms  of  Church  polity  now  existing;  and  was  not, 
therefore,  called  to  compare  these  with  one  another 
with  a  view  to  select  the  best  and  join  himself  to  it. 
He  saw  that  in  a  change  from  one  religious  body  to 
another,  something  might  be  gained,  but  that  some- 
thing also  would  probably  be  lost ;  and  recognized 
it  as  his  duty  to  abide  in  the  place  in  which  God 
had   providentially    put  him,  and  build  up  in  the 


42  William  Watson  Andrews 

faith  those  under  him,  till  God  by  His  interposition 
should  re-establish  the  conditions  under  which  all 
His  children  might  become  one.  He  could  regard 
no  part  of  the  Church,  however  pretentious  its 
claims,  or  large  in  number,  as  rightly  entitled  to  be 
called  Catholic;  and  saw  the  sectarian  spirit  in  all 
parties  of  every  name  which  do  not  see  their  own 
relative  imperfection  and  weakness,  nor  pray  for 
that  Divine  unity  for  which  their  common  Head  so 
earnestly  prayed,  and  which  is  necessary  to  their 
perfecting.  There  was  thus  no  ground  for  the  fear 
of  his  friends  thut  he  might  go  into  the  Episcopal 
or  the  Roman  or  other  Communion.  His  concep- 
tion of  the  original  and  perfect  constitution  of  the 
Church,  and  his  belief  that  this  only  could  give 
catholicity,  kept  him  from  any  choice  among  the 
later  and  imperfect  forms.  He  saw  that  he  would 
not  get  out  of  Babylon  —  the  symbol  of  the  Church 
in  its  confusion  —  by  simply  running  from  one  street 
to  another. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1843  ^^-  Porter  gave  up 
the  pastoral  charge  of  the  church  in  New  Milford, 
and  took  charge  of  a  Congregational  church  in 
Springfield,  Mass.,  where  he  remained  three  and  a 
half  years,  and  was  then  called  to  a  professorship  in 
Yale  College. 


CHAPTER  IV 


FIRST   VISIT   TO   ENGLAND 


DURING  the  year  1842,  and  especially  toward 
its  close,  Mr.  Andrews  was  affected  by  the 
then  generally  prevailing  sore  throat  of  the 
region,  and  quite  unable  to  fulfil  his  usual  labors. 
He  therefore  determined  to  take  a  voyage  to  Eng- 
land, primarily  for  his  health,  and  also  to  visit  some 
relatives  in  Ireland,  and  to  meet  personally  the 
leaders  in  the  movement  in  which  he  was  so  deeply 
interested.  He  sailed  from  New  York  March  11, 
1843,  iri  a  packet-ship,  reaching  London  after  a 
prosperous  voyage  of  twenty-one  days;  and  re- 
mained in  England  and  Ireland  until  October.  He 
continued  in  London  for  a  fortnight,  seeing  its 
sights,  and  meeting  several  of  those  whose  acquaint- 
ance he  had  desired  to  make.  Some  extracts  from 
his  journal  respecting  places  and  persons  are  here 
given. 

"  May  II,  184.J. — As  I  stood  by  the  entrance  of 
the  House  of  Lords,  I  watched  the  approach  of 
members  with  curiosity.  Amongst  others  I  saw 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  ride  up,   followed  by  an 

43 


44  William  Watson  Andrews 

attendant,  and  dismount  without  help.  As  he  rode 
along,  hats  were  lifted,  but  he  acknowledged  it  only 
by  now  and  then  raising  the  forefinger  of  his  right 
hand.  He  is  evidently  bowing  somewhat  under  the 
weight  of  years,  though  he  sits  well  in  his  saddle, 
and  bears  the  marks  of  much  remaining  vigor.  Not 
far  from  five  o'clock  I  presented  my  ticket  and  was 
admitted  into  the  House  of  Lords.  The  Peers  were 
assembling,  and  I  looked  from  the  gallery  on  this 
assembly  of  British  magnates  with  no  little  interest. " 
After  a  brief  description  of  the  room,  and  of  the 
opening  of  the  session,  and  the  presentation  of 
petitions,  hearing  some  brief  speeches  from  Lords 
Brougham,  Lansdowne,  Campbell,  and  others,  he 
says:  "  The  best  thing  was  a  passage-at-arms  be- 
tween Earl  Stanhope  and  the  Duke  of  Buckingham, 
on  the  change  in  the  Corn  Laws,  in  which  debate 
many  others  took  part.  It  was  not  a  great  debate, 
but  showed  no  lack  of  talent." 

Some  days  later  he  visited  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, of  which  he  writes:  "  I  went  to  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  found  the  staircase  leading  to  the 
galleries  almost  full.  The  debate  on  the  Corn  Laws 
was  to  be  finished  to-night,  and  curiosity  was  on 
tiptoe.  The  first  business  was  the  presentation 
of  petitions,  which  were  disposed  of  in  a  very 
summary  way,  amidst  great  disorder,  the  mem- 
bers walking  out  and  talking  incessantly.  By  five 
o'clock  the  benches  were  well  filled,  but  they  soon 
began  to  grow  empty ;  and  from  six  to  nine  they 
made  still  a  beggarly  appearance  of  naked  seats. 
This  time  was  given  to  lunching  in  some  of  the 
adjoining  apartments.    The  early  part  of  the  debate 


First  Visit  to  England  45 

was  intolerably  dull.  I  leaned  my  head  on  the  top 
of  my  umbrella,  and  dozed  away  as  well  as  I  could 
for  two  or  three  hours.  ...  I  was  surprised  at 
the  want  of  ready  utterance  even  in  men  of  learning 
and  reputation  like  Dr.  Bowring.  Many  hitched 
and  stammered  in  a  way  that  was  quite  ludicrous. 
About  nine  o'clock  the  benches  began  to  be  filled, 
and  the  serious  business  of  the  night  to  be  entered 
on."  He  mentions  several  speakers,  but  for  a  time 
"  there  was  a  continual  tempest  of  noises,  with  a 
partial  lull  now  and  then.  .  .  .  The  great  speech 
of  the  night  was  by  Cobden.  I  did  not  much  like 
him,  for  he  showed  himself  to  be  too  much  of  a 
demagogue,  reckless  of  the  way  by  which  he  might 
compass  his  end.  But  he  is  an  ingenious  and  plaus- 
ible speaker,  of  a  cool  and  collected  spirit,  and  with 
very  considerable  resources.  .  .  .  Mr.  Sibthorpe, 
a  thin,  perpendicular-looking  man,  replied  to  Mr. 
Cobden  in  a  most  violent  but  amusing  way.  .  .  . 
The  interest  of  the  discussion  now  ceased,  and 
I  left  the  House.  I  ought  to  mention  that  early 
in  the  evening  I  heard  Sir  Robert  Peel  in  answer 
to  a  question  about  the  affairs  of  Ireland.  He 
spoke  but  a  few  minutes,  but  long  enough  to 
show  that  he  was  a  polished  speaker  and  dextrous 
debater.  It  was  one  o'clock  or  later  when  I  came 
away." 

From  London  Mr.  Andrews  went  to  Albury,  a 
small  village  in  West  Surrey,  some  thirty  miles 
from  London.  This  village  was  the  residence  of 
Mr.  Henry  Drummond,  one  of  the  Apostles,  and 
here  for  unity  of  counsel  and  action  most  of  the 
Apostles,    after    their    separation,    took    up    their 


46  William  Watson  Andrews 

abode.'  Here  a  church  was  soon  built,  in  which 
for  more  than  half  a  century  daily  worship  has  been 
kept  up,  morning  and  evening. 

Of  his  journey  to  Albury  he  writes:  "  In  the 
afternoon  (April  25th)  I  took  the  stage-coach  for 
Albury.  It  started  from  Charing  Cross,  and  we 
were  nearly  a  full  hour  in  getting  beyond  the  limits 
of  London." 

Of  this  village  Mr.  Andrews  speaks:  "  I  was  a 
fortnight  at  Albury.  It  has  a  most  quiet  and  pic- 
turesque situation  in  a  green  valley  between  the 
downs  on  the  north  and  the  heath  on  the  south, 
through  which  a  small  stream  flows.  The  lanes 
leading  into  it  from  the  neighboring  hills  have  been 
worn  by  the  rains  of  ages  till  they  are  many  feet 
below  the  surface  of  the  fields  around,  and  being 
narrow  and  lined  with  the  holly  and  many  green 
plants  besides,  they  have  a  most  romantic  look. 
The  village  is  on  Mr.  Drummond's  estate.  The 
cottages  are  in  good  repair. ' '  After  giving  some  de- 
tails in  regard  to  the  churches  and  to  Albury  Park, 
he  proceeds  to  speak  of  Mr.  Drummond  himself, 
whom  he  describes  as  "  a  very  plain,  unassuming 

'  Of  them  Mr.  Andrews  gave  the  following  account  in  a  later 
newspaper  article:  "Classed  by  their  religious  position,  eight  of 
them  were  members  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  three  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland  ;  and  one  of  the  Independents.  Classed  by  their  occu- 
pations and  social  positions,  three  were  clergymen,  three  members 
of  the  bar,  three  belonged  to  the  gentry,  two  of  them  being  mem- 
bers of  Parliament ;  and  of  the  remaining  three,  one  was  an  artist, 
one  a  merchant,  and  one  held  the  post  of  keeper  of  the  Tower. 
Some  of  them  were  of  the  highest  standing  socially  and  politically, 
some  of  them  of  great  ability  as  scholars  and  theologians  ;  and  all 
of  them  men  of  unblemished  character,  soundness  in  the  faith,  and 
abundant  zeal  in  all  Christian  labors." 


First  Visit  to  England  47 

man,  but  oi  great  mental  activity  and  industry." 
Mr.  Drummond  was  much  interested  in  Carlyle's 
Past  and  Present,  then  just  out,  and  had  invited 
the  author  to  Albury  Park. 

The  purpose  of  Mr.  Andrews  to  go  to  England 
being  known  to  his  more  intimate  friends,  it  was 
feared  by  them  that  he  might  there  be  brought 
under  such  influences  as  to  lead  him  to  give  up 
his  ministry  in  Kent,  and  take  service  under  the 
Apostles.  They  therefore  regarded  it  as  a  critical 
time,  and  one  which  would  probably  determine  his 
religious  future,  and  were  not  wanting  in  their 
admonitions  and  warnings.  Especially  his  friend 
Porter  was  anxious  and  most  earnest.  In  a  letter 
of  April  loth,  sent  to  Mr.  Andrews  in  London,  he 
writes : 

"Your  first  object  of  interest  will  be,  I  doubt  not,  to 
see  and  judge  for  yourself  in  respect  to  the  Millennial 
Church.  I  should  not  be  at  all  surprised  if  you  shall  be 
more  highly  pleased  than  you  anticipate  with  the  men 
who  are  at  its  head,  and  should  find  them  indeed  noble- 
men by  nature  and  grace.  The  delusion,  if  you  will 
allow  me  to  call  it  such,  is  of  no  ordinary  kind.  It  is 
adapted  to  men  of  a  high  order.  It  is  altogether  aloof 
from  and  above  the  vulgar  taste,  and  cannot  be  agreeable 
to  any  but  to  those  who  by  culture  and  refinement  rise 
high  enough  to  appreciate  its  fascination,  and  to  be  inter- 
ested in  its  promises.  The  same  is  true  of  Swedenbor- 
gianism,  and  all  the  forms  of  fanciful  Christianity.  I 
cannot  but  regard  its  first  assumption,  however,  as  one 
most  violent  and  unwarranted, —  I  mean  its  assumption 
of  the  need  or  desirableness  of  a  Church, —  of  a  Church 
one  in  any  visible  sense.     For  such  a  Church  I  do  not 


48  William  Watson  Andrews 

believe  the  world  is  yet  good  enough,  or  that  human 
nature  can  have  it,  without  corrupting  it,  or  being  cor- 
rupted by  it.  The  historical  basis  is  also  exceedingly 
narrow,  or  rather  there  is  not  a  fact  in  the  history  of  the 
primitive  Church  to  indicate  at  all  that  the  apostolic 
office  was  designed  to  be  permanent;  or  that  it  was  sus- 
pended or  withdrawn  in  chastisement  and  wrath.     .     .     . 

"  You  will  go  to  Oxford  and  see  Pusey.  .  .  .  The 
Oxford  Movement  is  a  striking  event  in  the  history  of  the 
Church.  I  hope  it  is  but  the  means  in  the  hand  of  God 
to  allow  the  distinct  acting  out  of  the  spirit  of  Prelacy, 
that  it  may  be  rejected  and  destroyed  by  Protestant 
Christendom.  ,  .  ,  The  Church,  as  anything  dis- 
tinct from  the  body  of  believers  associated  to  hold  forth 
the  word  of  life  by  her  life,  by  ordinances,  by  her  solemn 
services,  is  but  a  compound  of  superstition, —  salvation 
by  the  external,  not  by  faith,  and  the  love  of  splendor  and 
of  domination.  The  strong  tendency  to  find  the  Church 
and  to  rest  under  its  shade,  is  the  desire  to  shake  off  the 
responsibility  of  personal  activity  in  seeking  and  com- 
municating the  truth,  and  a  disgust  with  vulgar  Chris- 
tianity in  its  humble  and  self-denying  garb."  It  is  on 
this  ground,  he  adds,  that  so  many  flee  to  the  Episcopal 
Church. 

"  Nothing  that  could  occur  would  give  me  higher 
pleasure  than  that  you  should  return  from  England 
with  a  throat  unthrottled,  to  find  a  new  sphere  of  labor, 
such  as  would  at  once  be  your  health  and  joy,  and  to 
give  yourself  to  the  work  of  preaching  the  Gospel  with 
the  power  with  which  you  may  preach,  and  which  yet  I 
do  not  think  you  have  often  displayed."  After  exhort- 
ing him  to  preach  for  immediate  practical  results,  he  goes 
on:  "I  cannot  but  be  certain  that  to  remain  in  Kent  will 
be  to  blight  your  powers  as  a  preacher,  and  to  withhold 
from  you  that  stimulus  which  is  the  condition  of  healthful 


First  Visit  to  England  49 

activity,  as  well  as  the  security  against  dangers  to 
which  you  are  exposed,  and  a  correction  of  those  faults 
into  which  you  have  fallen.'  There  is  another  reason. 
You  are  needed  elsewhere.  There  can  be  no  question 
that  the  pulpit  is  suffering  where  it  ought  to  be  the 
strongest;  that  coxcombs  with  their  prettinesses  and  ex- 
ternal attractions  galvanized  into  a  spasmodic  motion, 
not  life,  and  litterateurs  instead  of  cultivated  men, —  all 
these  rush  into  places  of  prominence,  and  by  their  auda- 
cious effrontery,  and  their  determination  to  be  conspicu- 
ous, shut  out  better  men,  the  best  men  even ;  and  that 
some  one  has  got  the  place  for  which  you  are  fitted  by 
what  God  has  done  for  you  and  you  have  done  for  your- 
self.    But  a  truce  to  this  moralizing." 

In  his  reply  to  this  letter,  writing  in  Ireland,  June 
I2th,  Mr.  Andrews  says: 

"  Your  letter  came  to  hand  in  due  time,  and  was  very 
welcome,  notwithstanding  its  homiletic  character.  The 
cautions  and  remonstrances  of  a  friend  who  loves  me  so 
well,  and  desires  my  usefulness  so  ardently,  could  never 
be  lightly  treated  by  me,  however  needless  I  might  think 
them.  But  of  this  by  and  by.  I  will  say  a  word  first  of 
my  voyage  and  travels.  .  .  .  But  I  am  rambling, 
and  you  of  course  wish  to  know  what  I  now  think  of  the 
Irvingites, —  a  name  wholly  rejected  by  them, —  whose 
opinions  and  position  have  occupied  my  thoughts  so 
many  years.  Well,  I  like  the  men,  and  do  bear  them 
testimony  that  as  a  body  they  exhibit  more  of  the 
simplicity,   nobleness,   and  gentleness  of  the  Christian 

'  Mr.  Porter's  very  high  estimate  of  his  friend's  powers  would 
probably  have  led  him  to  say  this  with  reference  to  any  retired  parish. 
In  fact,  no  man  spoke  oftener  and  more  warmly  of  the  intelligence 
of  rural  New  England  congregations. 


50  William  Watson  Andrews 

character,  than  I  have  ever  seen  in  any  portion  of  the 
Church.  They  are  free  from  cant,  which  they  abhor,  and 
manifest  the  graces  of  the  Spirit  in  forms  appropriate  to 
man,  not  as  a  garment  put  on,  but  as  fruits  growing  out  of 
an  inner  life.  There  is  a  transparency  and  honesty  about 
them,  an  absence  of  that  tricky,  Jesuitical  spirit  which  is 
so  often  to  be  met  with  in  sects  eager  for  pre-eminence, 
which  is  refreshing,  and  which,  I  am  persuaded,  would 
leave  any  fair-minded  observer  in  admiration  of  the  men, 
whatever  he  might  think  of  their  principles.  They  have 
no  fanaticism,  and  I  know  of  no  more  effective  cure  of 
this  very  bad  disease  than  to  send  the  patient  to  London 
or  Albury,  They  are  calm  and  sound-minded  men,  in 
whom  the  natural  haste  and  impatience  of  the  spirit, 
even  when  engaged  in  a  good  cause,  is  repressed  and 
subdued  beyond  what  I  ever  saw,  and  instead  of  it  you 
see  a  patient  waiting  on  God,  and  a  quiet,  collected 
demeanor. 

"  You  are  not  right  in  saying  that  this  movement  is 
adapted  exclusively  to  men  of  a  high  order.  It  is  a  very 
striking  characteristic  of  the  work,  that  it  embraces  all 
ranks  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  .  .  .  You 
greatly  err  when  you  say  that  it  is  '  altogether  aloof  from 
and  above  the  vulgar  taste.'  So  far  is  this  from  being 
true,  that  one  of  the  most  flourishing  churches  in  Lon- 
don came  out  from  the  Independents,  pastor  and  flock; 
and  consists  exclusively,  I  believe,  of  the  middling  and 
lower  classes.  ...  I  have  never  known  any  religious 
movement  which  fused  together  in  such  strong  ties  the 
extremes  of  society.  They  are  likewise  men  of  a  truly 
catholic  spirit,  who  look  with  more  enlarged  and  liberal 
views  on  the  Church  than  any  others  I  know. 

"  I  have  had  one  most  important  truth  deeply  im- 
pressed on  my  mind, — viz.,  that  there  is  life  in  the  parts, 
and  that  the  integrity  of  these  must  be  maintained  in 


First  Visit  to  England  51 

harmony  with  the  central  power  in  every  right  constitu- 
tion of  the  Church.  Indeed,  I  feel  most  profited  by  my 
visit  in  this  very  thing,  that  I  see  more  clearly  my  duties 
as  a  patriot  to  my  own  country,  and  as  a  Christian  man 
and  minister  to  that  portion  of  the  Church  where  God 
has  cast  my  lot.  You  will  rejoice  over  me  when  I  tell 
you  that  I  shall  return  with  my  local  and  national  attach- 
ments strengthened  by  being  reconciled  with  the  founda- 
tion truths  respecting  Government  and  Religion.  I  am 
more  disposed  to  thankfulness  for  the  blessings  we  have 
in  Church  and  State,  and  more  ready  to  labor  with  a  wise 
adaptation  of  means  to  the  condition  in  which  our  people 
are. 

"  You  may  think  it  strange  that  I  should  be  led  to  such 
results  by  intercourse  with  those  '  fanatical  '  men,  but  it 
is  even  so,  and  I  feel  at  this  moment  a  greater  desire  than 
ever  to  work  in  Congregational  New  England,  with  that 
measure  of  truth  which  will  be  profitable  to  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  God's  people.  I  have  in  this  respect  been 
led  in  ways  I  thought  not  of,  and  have  been  profited  in 
the  end  where  at  the  first  I  was  disappointed.  I  have 
been  cast  back  upon  the  life  in  the  Body,  and  made  to 
see  that  it  is  my  duty  to  strengthen  in  our  own  portion 
of  the  Church  the  things  that  remain  and  are  ready  to 
die.  Any  sectarian  and  schismatical  tendencies  I  may 
have  had,  have  been  chastened,  and  I  shall  devote  my- 
self to  my  work  as  a  minister  of  the  Congregational  por- 
tion of  the  One  Church  with  greater  desire  for  its  growth 
and  enlargement  than  ever  before." 

After  speaking  of  the  disruption  of  the  Scottish 
Church:  "  You  know  that  I  upheld  the  principle  of 
an  Establishment,  but  the  State  churches  existing 
in  Europe  are  houses  of  bondage,  and  must  be 
broken  down." 


52  William  Watson  Andrews 

"  I  spent  only  one  day  in  Oxford,  and  saw  nobody. 
It  would  have  been  a  source  of  gratification  to  have  had 
an  hour's  conversation  with  Pusey  or  Newman,  but  of 
very  little  use." 

During  his  absence  in  England  Mr.  Andrews  sent 
two  letters  to  his  congregation  in  Kent.  In  the 
first,  written  April  i6,  1843,  soon  after  he  reached 
land,  he  says : 

"  I  avail  myself  of  the  earliest  opportunity,  since  land- 
ing and  recovering  from  my  weakness  and  fatigue,  of 
sending  a  letter  to  the  dear  people  over  whom  it  has  been 
my  delight  to  watch.  God  has  taught  us  much  concern- 
ing the  closeness  and  sacredness  of  the  pastoral  bond, 
and  it  is  a  pleasure  in  this  season  of  affliction  to  remember 
that  no  selfish  or  ambitious  motives  on  my  part,  no 
wearying  on  yours  of  the  imperfections  of  my  public 
labors,  has  been  suffered  to  break  it." 

After  some  remarks  on  his  personal  relations  to 
them,  he  proceeds: 

"  Suffer  me  now,  removed  from  you  for  a  time,  and 
uncertain  what  God's  purposes  as  to  the  future  are,  to 
recall  and  set  before  you  anew  what  has  been  the  great 
aim  of  my  public  ministry.  It  will  be  at  once  a  memorial 
of  the  past,  and  a  guide  as  to  the  future.  It  may  be 
summed  up  in  one  word, — the  preaching  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  You  will  bear  me  witness  that  He  has 
been  the  centre,  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  all  the  doc- 
trines that  I  have  taught,  and  that  to  describe  His  work 
and  offices,  and  unfold  His  glory,  has  been  the  end  to 
which  all  else  has  been  subordinate.  This  is  my  boast, 
and  this  shall  be  my  boast,  if  my  mouth  be  never  opened 
in  His  Church  again,  that  according  to  my  measure  I 


First  Visit  to  England  53 

have  been  a  witness  before  you  to  Him  as  the  eternal 
Son  of  God,  as  the  Man  of  Sorrows,  as  the  Redeemer  of 
the  world,  as  the  Head  of  the  Church,  and  as  the  Prince 
of  the  Kings  of  the  earth.  And,  dear  brethren,  my 
counsel  and  charge  to  you  is,  hold  fast  the  truths  ye 
have  heard,  grow  into  Christ  continually,  into  the  know- 
ledge of  His  love,  into  the  fellowship  of  His  sufferings, 
into  the  hope  of  His  glory." 

After  admonishing  them  not  to  neglect  the  meet- 
ings and  ordinances  of  the  church,  he  adds: 

"  The  care  of  the  church  for  the  present  time  neces- 
sarily devolves  on  the  Deacons.     In   addition  to  their 
ordinary  duties  of  serving  at  the  Lord's  table,  and  pro- 
viding for  the  poor,  it  will  fall  to  them  to  visit  the  sick 
and  preside  at  the  meetings  of  the  church,  and  to  be  the 
spiritual  counsellors  of  the  flock.     And  let  all  honor  be 
given  them  in  their  work,  and  let  them  be  strengthened 
by  the  faith  and  prayers  of  God's  people,  that  they  faint 
not  under  the  unusual  burdens  put  upon  them.     .     . 
Finally,  remember  my  counsel,  that  you  strengthen  the 
things  that  remain  and  that  are  ready  to  die;  stir  up 
yourselves  to  penitent  and  earnest  and  unceasing  prayer, 
and  to  diligent  labors,  each  in  the  place  where  the  Lord 
has  set  him.     .     .     .     And  it  is  my  earnest  hope  to  find 
you,  if  God  spares  me  to  return,  in  an  undisturbed, 
peaceful  state,   joined  together  in   one  heart  and  one 
mind,  and  upholding  with  diligence  and  zeal  the  ordi- 
nances of  religion  which  you  now  enjoy." 

In  the  later  letter  he  speaks  of  the  religious  con- 
dition of  things  abroad,  of  the  divisions  and  strifes 
everywhere  seen,  and  of  the  changes  from  one  divi- 
sion of  the  Church  to  another  by  those  dissatisfied 


54  William  Watson  Andrews 

with  what  they  have.  He  exhorts  his  people  to 
abide  strong  in  the  faith  that  they  are  a  true  part  of 
the  Church. 

"  We  believe  the  administration  of  the  sacraments  to 
be  in  their  measure  in  accordance  with  the  mind  of  God. 
.  .  .  The  inward  testimony  growing  out  of  the  work- 
ing of  our  spiritual  life  is  the  strongest  proof  that  we 
have  the  sacraments  as  true  channels  of  God's  grace. 
But  it  is  one  thing  to  believe  ourselves  to  be  of 
the  Church,  and  quite  another  to  say  in  heart,  '  We  are 
rich  and  increased  with  goods,  and  have  need  of  noih- 
ing. '  .  .  .  The  cry  should  go  up  without  ceasing 
unto  God,  that  He  would  show  mercy  unto  His  people, 
and  visit  His  heritage  with  salvation  by  that  outpouring 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  is  to  be  the  glory  of  the  latter 
day." 

He  proceeds  to  speak  of  his  health,  and  giving  the 
opinion  of  his  physician,  adds: 

"  I  feel  warranted  in  saying  that  I  shall  be  able  to 
attend  to  the  ordinary  pastoral  duties,  and  to  resume 
preaching  in  a  very  moderate  way,  the  deacons  assisting 
me  in  the  service.  .  .  .  But  in  my  present  disabled 
state  I  cannot  perform  all  the  duties  of  the  ministry  as 
fully  as  you  may  need,  and  I  would  not  wish  you  to  re- 
main deprived  of  any  spiritual  privileges  on  my  account. 
If  you  can  be  satisfied  with  such  services  as  I  can  render, 
bearing  my  burdens  with  me,  and  looking  forward  in 
faith  to  a  reward  in  God's  good  time,  I  shall  be  happy 
to  remain  your  pastor.  But  if  you  feel  that  the  welfare 
of  yourselves  and  your  children  demands  greater  labors 
than  I  at  present  can  perform,  do  not  hesitate  to  say  so. 
To  your  decision  I  refer  this  question,  charging 


First  Visit  to  England 


55 


you,  whatever  course  you  take,  to  act  heartily  out  of  a 
good  conscience,  and  I  shall  cheerfully  acquiesce  in  it 
as  the  voice  of  God's  providence  to  me." 

Mr.  Andrews  remained  in  Ireland  till  August, 
and  then  visited  Scotland.  He  sailed  from  London 
for  home  about  September  ist,  in  a  merchant  vessel, 
and  after  a  voyage  of  thirty-six  days  reached  New 
York  October  7th,  1843. 


CHAPTER  V 

LAST   YEARS   IN  KENT 

MR,  ANDREWS,  though  somewhat  improved 
in  health  by  his  voyage,  was  not  able  to  re- 
sume his  full  pastoral  labors,  and  was  in 
much  perplexity  what  to  do.  Some  of  his  friends, 
and  particularly  Porter,  were  urgent  that  he  should 
leave  Kent,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  too  small  and 
too  secluded  to  give  him  the  needed  stimulus.  In 
a  letter  from  Springfield,  dated  October,  1843, 
Porter  writes : 


"  You  are  welcome  back  to  terra  firma,  which  was,  I 
presume,  very  welcome  to  you  after  a  voyage  of  thirty- 
six  days.  .  .  .  But  how  well  are  you,  and  what 
do  you  propose  to  do  ?  I  wrote  yesterday  to  President 
Humphrey  of  Amherst  College,  recommending  you  as  a 
candidate  for  the  professorship  of  rhetoric,  which  is  now 
vacant,  saying  that  though  I  did  not  suppose  you  would 
accept  of  such  an  office  as  a  permanent  matter,  you 
might  for  a  limited  time.  ...  I  believe  that  your 
life  and  usefulness  depend  on  your  leaving  Kent." 

In  his  reply,  Mr.  Andrews  writes: 
56 


Last  Years  in  Kent  57 

"  My  health  is  improved,  in  some  respects  very  much, 
but  my  throat  is  very  weak,  and  I  fear  will  not  endure 
the  strain  of  preaching.  It  would  probably  be  best  for 
me  to  abandon  the  ministry  altogether,  and  rest  for  a 
time.  ...  I  do  not  know  but  I  would  accept  a 
position  as  professor  somewhere,  if  such  a  situation 
should  offer.  My  present  state  of  half-disablement  is 
very  trying.  I  am  thinking  seriously  of  leaving  my 
pastoral  charge.  I  am  not  much  known,  and  what  little 
is  known  of  me  will  not,  I  suppose,  be  much  to  my  ad- 
vantage in  a  matter  of  this  sort.  But  I  have  learned  one 
lesson  as  effectually  as  most  of  my  countrymen — viz., 
that  a  man  should  attend  to  his  own  business,  and  if  I 
was  a  professor  of  rhetoric  or  of  languages,  I  should  not 
expect  to  add  to  it  the  professorship  of  theology,  or 
lecture  on  the  07nne  scibile.  I  have  no  religious  opinions 
which  would  at  all  hinder  my  acting  harmoniously  with 
Christian  men  in  any  of  our  colleges,  or  in  a  similar 
situation." 

This  movement  came  to  no  result,  on  grounds 
explained  by  President  Humphrey  in  a  letter  of 
January,  1844: 

"  I  am  disappointed  and  mortified  at  the  result  of  con- 
ference with  our  trustees  in  Boston.  They  make  no 
objection  to  our  nomination  of  yourself  to  the  vacant 
professorship ;  on  the  contrary,  they  were  pleased  with  it. 
But  in  view  of  the  embarrassed  state  of  the  treasury  and 
the  excess  of  the  expenditures  over  the  income,  they  are 
talking  of  a  new  organization,  and  hardly  know  what 
they  shall  do.  .  .  .  My  hope  and  expectation  is 
that  when  they  get  ready  to  act,  their  eyes  will  be  turned 
upon  you." 

It  being  understood  that  Mr.  Andrews  might  be 


58  William  Watson  Andrews 

induced  to  leave  Kent,  several  pulpits  were  opened 
to  him,  and  invitations  were  sent  to  him  to  preach. 
Among  them  were  requests  from  the  South  Church 
in  Hartford,  and  the  church  in  Wethersfield.  But 
feeling  himself  growing  stronger,  he  was  the  more 
inclined  to  remain  in  Kent,  and  labor  with  the 
people  whom  he  knew  and  loved.  At  this  time, 
and  long  afterward,  he  had  a  large  correspondence 
with  his  ministerial  brethren,  both  in  and  out  of  the 
State,  as  to  the  Lord's  advent,  and  the  spiritual 
constitution  and  endowments  of  the  Church  and 
their  restoration  as  a  preparation  for  it. 

Hardly  any  of  his  old  friends  entered  with  him 
into  this,  to  them,  new  field  of  inquiry,  but  it  did 
not  affect  their  personal  regard  for  him.  Mr.  At- 
water  wrote  in  1845  • 

"  That  you  have  outrun  and  diverged  from  me  on 
many  subjects,  and  in  your  general  line  of  thinking,  I 
will  not  disguise.  But  this  does  not  interfere  with 
friendly  feeling,  or  the  pleasant  intercourse  which  should 
subsist  between  those  who  have  been  peculiarly  intimate." 

At  this  period  Mr.  Andrews  was  brought  into 
contact  with  the  "  Mercersburg  Movement,"  which 
awakened  considerable  interest  for  a  time.  This 
movement  was  led  by  Dr.  John  W.  Nevin,  holding 
the  chair  of  Theology  in  the  Theological  Seminary 
of  the  German  Reformed  Church  at  Mercersburg, 
Penn.,  and  regarded  by  many  as  one  of  the  ablest 
theologians  of  America,  and  by  Dr.  Philip  Schaff, 
holding  the  chair  of  Church  History.  The  In- 
augural Address  of  the  latter  (1844),  on  The 
Principle    of   Protestantism,    in    which    he     spoke 


Last  Years  in  Kent  59 

sympathetically  both  of  the  Roman  Church  and  of 
the  Tractarians,  alarmed  some  of  the  more  zealous 
Protestants,  and  a  prolonged  controversy  ensued, 
in  which  the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharist  was  promi- 
nent. Mr.  Andrews  wrote  four  articles,  which  were 
published  in  January,  1846,  in  the  Weekly  Messen- 
ger, the  organ  of  the  German  Reformed  Church. 
Of  these  papers  Dr.  Appel,  the  biographer  of  Dr. 
Nevin,  says,  that  "  they  showed  superior  learning, 
they  were  in  striking  harmony  with  Dr. 
Nevin's  views,  evinced  similar  ability,  and  were 
read  with  more  than  ordinary  avidity.  As  coming 
from  the  land  of  the  Puritans,  they  were  phenom- 
enal." Dr.  Appel  gives  an  outline  of  Mr.  Andrews' 
discussion,  "  starting  from  the  doctrine  of  the  Word 
made  flesh,  the  central  truth  of  Christianity,  and 
the  key  to  the  right  understanding  of  the  Church, 
and  the  power  of  its  sacraments."  He  adds  that 
these  views  "  no  doubt  served  as  a  healthy  stimulus 
to  Dr.  Nevin  in  writing  his  more  elaborate  work  on 
The  Mystical  Presence,  which  appeared  in  1846,  and 
which  was  intended  to  set  forth  the  true  Reformed 
or  Calvinistic  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  as 
distinguished  from  the  Lutheran."  * 

Among  the  acquaintances  made  at  this  period 
was  Dr.  John  Lillie,  the  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian 
church  in  New  York,  and  editor  of  the  jfezvish 
Chronicle.^      Mr.    Andrews    at    his    request    wrote 

^  Life  and  Wo7-k  of  John  Williamson  Nevin,  D.D.,  LL.D,, 
pp.  260-262,  etc.     Philadelphia,  1SS9. 

^  Dr.  Lillie  was  born  in  Scotland  in  i8i2,  was  educated  in  the 
University  of  Edinburgh,  where  it  is  said  in  a  newspaper  notice  of 
him  that  "he  stood  at  the  head  of  a  list  of  two  thousand  students." 
Dr.    Schaff  says  of  him:   "He  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  first 


6o  William  Watson  Andrews 

several  articles  for  the  Chronicle,  and  their  acquaint- 
ance gradually  ripened  into  friendship  and  intimacy, 
which  continued  till  the  death  of  Dr.  Lillie  in  1867. 
He  was  much  interested  in  the  movement  beginning 
in  Scotland,  and  continued  to  be,  though  at  first  he 
very  decidedly  rejected  it,  his  Presbyterian  training 
making  it  difificult  for  him  to  receive  what  was 
taught  by  its  leaders  of  the  constitution  of  the 
Church,  of  its  ministries,  and  of  the  spiritual  power 
of  its  ordinances. 

About  1846-47  there  was  in  New  York  and  vicin- 
ity much  interest  awakened  in  the  study  of  the 
prophecies  of  the  Lord's  advent,  both  among  clergy- 
men and  laymen;  and  a  "  Millennial  Association  " 
was  formed.  As  those  engaged  in  this  did  not 
enter  into  the  matter  of  the  special  preparation  of 
the  Church  for  the  Lord,  which  Mr.  Andrews  held 
to  be  a  vital  point,  he  did  not  join  them ;  but  in 
January,  1846,  he  delivered  in  New  York  a  sermon 
on  TJie  Rank  of  the  JetvisJi  Nation  in  the  Kingdom 
of  Christ,  which  was  published. 

At  this  time  there  was  talk  of  establishing  a  re- 
view which  would  be  a  pre-millennial  organ,  the 
editorship  of  which  Dr.  Lillie  and  other  of  his  friends 
desired  Mr.  Andrews  to  take;  but  this  he  declined. 

classical  and  biblical  scholars  in  the  United  States."  He  studied 
theology  partly  in  Scotland,  and  partly  at  the  Theological  Seminary, 
New  Brunswick,  N.  J.  He  was  ordained  in  1835  over  a  Dutch 
Reformed  church  at  Kingston,  in  Ulster  County,  N.  Y.,  but  in  1841 
removed  to  the  City  of  New  York,  and  became  one  of  the  translators 
for  the  Baptist  Bible  Union,  having  also  charge  of  a  Presbyterian 
church.  He  also  assisted  Dr.  Schaff  in  the  translation  of  Lange's 
Bibel  Werk  from  the  German.  In  1855  he  received  the  degree  of 
D.D.  from  the  University  of  Edinburgh. 


Last  Years  in  Kent  6i 

He  now  became  acquainted  with  some  persons  in 
New  York  who  had  learned  somewhat  of  the  re- 
storation of  Apostles,  and  received  their  work,  and 
afterwards  became  the  nucleus  of  the  present  Apos- 
tolic Church  in  that  city. 

On  May  27,  1846,  he  delivered  at  New  Haven 
before  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  by  its 
appointment,  a  eulogy  on  the  life  and  character  of 
John  Cotton  Smith,  Governor  of  Connecticut,  A 
copy  of  this  was  requested  for  publication ;  and  it 
was  ultimately  prefixed  to  The  Miscellanies  of  John 
Cotton  Smith,  edited  by  Mr.  Andrews,  and  published 
by  the  Harpers  in  1847. 

In  May  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Porter,  on  the  death  of 
his  infant  son.  After  some  sympathetic  words,  he 
adds:  "  This  affliction  in  your  house,  and  the  death 
of  Atwater's  Httle  boy,  have  made  death  seem  very 
near,  and  I  have  looked  upon  my  own  dear  children 
with  a  strange  feeling  of  the  uncertain  tie  by  which 
I  hold  them.  But  they  are  in  our  Father's  hand, 
and  so  are  we  all,  and  let  us  be  full  of  submission 
and  faith." 

In  a  letter  to  the  same.  May,  1847,  he  writes: 

"  Our  theological  world  seems  troubled  once  more, 
and  I  am  glad  that  we  are  forced  to  think  of  such  topics 
as  Christiati  Nurture  (by  Horace  Bushnell).  I  think 
that  after  all  Nevin  has  hit  the  nail  on  the  head,  and 
that  Bushnell  is  rationalistic,  though  perhaps  without 
knowing  it.  The  only  true  doctrine  is,  that,  having 
fallen  in  Adam,  we  are  all  made  members  of  the  risen 
Christ,  the  Second  Man,  in  our  baptism;  and  Christian 
education  is  the  training  of  those  who  have  been  made 
Christians,  the  educing  of  that  which  has  been  potentially 


62  William  Watson  Andrews 

given  them.  .  .  .  Dr.  Bushnell  is  right  when 
he  says:  '  A  new  day  is  come.'  It  has  come  for  good 
and  for  evil ;  and  soon  we  shall  see  Christ  and  anti- 
Christ  marshalling  their  forces  for  the  last  encounter. 
The  knowledge  I  have  of  the  Lord's  working  in  these 
troublous  times  gives  me  great  peace,  and  helps  me  to 
hold  on  in  patient  waiting  for  the  Salvation  of  God." 

In  a  letter  of  January  30,  1848,  Porter  writes  him  : 

"  The  old  times  so  genial  are  gone,  when  you  and  I 
declaimed,  and  the  world  was  to  feel  the  impression  of 
our  logic  and  eloquence  and  fire,  all  combined,  and  a 
new  order  of  things  was  to  take  up  its  onward  march. 
But  alas,  alas,  you  are  in  Kent  preaching  in  the  winter  to 
the  smoke  of  green  wood  fires,  .  .  .  and  I  am  puzzled 
and  tired  and  looking  forward  to  some  golden  future  yet 
to  be,  ...  It  seems  sad  not  to  do  something  after 
all  this  preparation.  I  do  not  mean  to  turn  any  man,  or 
any  parish,  fairly  over  on  its  back,  upside  down,  but  to 
be  honored  to  affect  some  minds  for  good.  .  .  .  Do 
come  down  and  bring  Mrs.  Andrews,  and  preach  a  Sun- 
day in  the  chapel.  .  .  .  Have  you  read  Bushnell's 
article  on  Comprehensions  ?  " 

In  his  reply,  under  date  of  May  ist,  Mr,  Andrews 
writes : 

"  You  speak,  my  dear  friend,  of  our  youthful  dreams, 
and  of  the  sad  disappointment  which  has  been  our  lot  — 
that  is,  mine;  for  you  have  wielded  an  influence  as  great 
as  you  ought  to  have  looked  for.  Now  I  must  say  in 
simple  soberness,  that  so  far  as  the  knowledge  of  great 
truth,  and  of  mighty  workings  of  God,  may  be  called  the 
fulfilment  of  early  hopes,  mine  have  been  more,  far  more 
than  realized.     I  have  been  taught  that  of  God's  counsels 


Last  Years  in  Kent  6 


o 


and  ways  which  no  dreamer  could  ever  have  looked  for 
in  his  wildest  hours;  and  while  I  take  all  shame  to  my- 
self for  burying  my  one  talent,  I  cannot  look  upon  the 
fourteen  years  of  my  exile — if  you  will  have  it  so — in  this 
obscure  parish,  as  thrown  away;  nor  am  I  without  hope 
of  being  yet  used  of  God  (unworthy  as  I  know  myself  to 
be),  of  making  known  to  my  countrymen  those  truths 
with  which  this  glory  of  the  deliverance  of  the  world 
must  stand  or  fall." 

In  October,  1848,  he  published  an  article  in  the 
New  Englander  on  National  Unity. 

One  of  the  Apostles  being  at  New  York  in  1847, 
there  was  naturally  much  desire  felt  by  Mr.  An- 
drews' friends  to  see  one  whom  he  believed  to  be 
called  of  God  to  take  this  ministry.  Among  these 
was  Dr.  Lillie,  who  wrote  to  him,  September,  1847, 
and  whose  letter  shows  his  belief  that  one  serving 
the  Lord  in  the  apostolic  office  must  be  little  less 
than  a  demi-god.  And  this  seems  to  have  been  a 
very  general  belief.  The  distinguished  Presbyterian 
theologian,  Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  says  that  "  no  man 
could  be  an  apostle  without  the  gift  of  infallibility." 
It  is  not  strange  that  Dr.  Lillie  should  Avait  with 
great  interest  to  see  and  hear  an  infallible  man.  He 
writes  to  Mr.  Andrews:  "  Here  is  a  man  whom 
you,  in  whose  Christian  character  and  spiritual  dis- 
cernment I  repose  an  unusual  degree  of  confidence, 
believe  to  be  an  apostle  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
The  responsibility  implied  in  this,  if  you  are  not 
deluded,  and  the  grievous  peril  if  you  are,  often- 
times agitate  me  more  than  is  pleasant.  The  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  keep  you  and  me." 

But  Mr.  Andrews  recognized  the  truth  that  no 


64         William  Watson  Andrews 

ministry  in  the  Body  of  Christ,  not  even  the  apos- 
tolic, could  fully  put  forth  its  powers  except  with 
the  help  of  the  other  ministries.  No  ministry  is 
sufficient  of  itself  to  do  the  Lord's  work;  much  less 
is  any  single  minister  gifted  with  infallibility.  He 
needs  all  His  ministries  in  order  that  He  may  mani- 
fest Himself  fully  in  word  and  act. 

Mrs.  Andrews  died  at  Kent,  October  23,  1848, 
soon  after  the  birth  of  a  son.  Mr.  Andrews  re- 
ceived many  letters  of  condolence.     Atwater  wrote  : 

"  I  know  not  when  I  have  been  more  touched  and 
startled  by  any  piece  of  intelligence  than  when  I  was  in- 
formed that  your  beloved  wife  was  laid  in  the  grave.  It 
awakened  in  me  a  train  of  tender  and  affecting  reminis- 
cences. I  reverted  to  our  first  acquaintance  and  friend- 
ship amid  all  the  ingenuous  enthusiasm  and  lofty 
aspirations  of  youth  and  opening  manhood;  to  those 
solemn  hours  when,  as  we  trust,  we,  with  a  goodly  com- 
pany of  comrades,  were  touched  with  '  the  powers  of  the 
world  to  come,'  when  through  grace  given  us  therefor, 
we  were  led  to  seek  and  equip  ourselves  for  the  sacred 
ministry,  .  .  .  and  among  those  precious  memories 
arising  from  a  friendship  cemented  and  refined  by  Chris- 
tian affection,  I  thought  of  the  bridal  morn  when,  stand- 
ing by  your  side,  I  saw  you  give  your  hand  to  your  now 
departed  wife  in  wedlock.  .  .  .  As  I  think  of  your 
widowed  estate,  your  motherless  children,  especially  the 
babe,  and  your  deserted  hearth,  it  is  a  great  relief  to  me 
that  you  are  enabled  to  temper  the  bitterness  of  your  sor- 
row, and  medicate  your  wounded  spirit  with  the  sweetness 
of  Christian  resignation,  '  the  oil  of  joy  '  which  He  gives 
for  mourning." 

An  address  at  the  burial,  October  25th,  was  made 


Last  Years  in  Kent  65 

by  the  Rev.  John  R.  Keep,  of  Warren,  a  near 
neighbor  and  much  loved  friend,  full  of  tenderness 
and  sympathy. 

A  truthful  estimate  of  Mrs.  Andrews  would  seem 
to  those  who  did  not  know  her,  an  exaggerated 
eulogy.  She  was  wholly  at  one  with  her  husband 
in  his  religious  beliefs,  and  a  wise  counsellor  and 
supporter  in  all  his  perplexities  and  trials.  Her 
faith  was  firm  that  the  Lord  would  ere  long  gather 
to  Himself  those  who  sleep  in  Him,  and  without 
fear  on  the  one  side  or  impatience  on  the  other, 
she  laid  herself  down  to  rest. 

In  a  letter  to  Porter  (October  30,  1848)  Mr.  An- 
drews writes : 

"  Yes,  my  dear  friend,  it  is  too  true,  my  beloved  wife, 
the  idol  of  my  youth,  the  dear  and  honored  partner  of 
my  manhood,  is  taken  from  me.  A  week  ago  to-day  she 
was  released  from  the  burdens  and  sufferings  of  this 
mortal  life,  and  fell  asleep  in  the  Lord.  .  .  .  It  is 
indeed  a  heavy  blow,  a  blow  that  would  crush  me  but  for 
the  strength  which  the  Lord  has  mercifully  vouchsafed. 
You  knew  her  well,  but  none  could  know  as  I  did  her 
strength  of  principle,  the  tenderness  of  her  affections, 
and  the  patience  witli  which  she  endured  the  many,  many 
trials  of  her  lot.  She  has  been  to  me  a  treasure  beyond 
all  price,  a  helper,  and  a  comforter  in  all  my  burdens 
and  labors.  She  has  stood  with  me  when  all  had  for- 
saken me,  and  many  have  been  the  times  when  to  her 
alone  of  earthly  friends  could  I  look  for  sympathy  and 
encouragement.  And  it  is  an  unspeakable  comfort  to 
think  that  she  did  this,  not  from  any  blind  love  to  me  as 
her  husband,  but  for  Christ's  sake,  intelligently  discern- 
ing the  truth,  and  feeling  it  to  be  at  once  her  duty  and 
her  joy  to  uphold  me  in  my  place  as  His  minister.    .    .    . 


66  William  Watson  Andrews 

"  That  which  was  most  noticeable  in  her  last  hours  was 
the  crucifixion  of  her  own  will  that  God's  will  might  be 
done  in  her,  and  the  desire  which  she  had  for  the  bless- 
ing of  others.  She  shrank  from  death  at  the  first,  but 
was  enabled  to  yield  herself  wholly  to  the  Lord,  often 
saying:  '  In  life  and  in  death  I  am  the  Lord's.'  'Father, 
into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit.' 

"  She  has  gone  down  into  the  valley  of  death,  to  walk 
with  me  no  more  till  He  shall  come  for  whom  we  have 
waited;  but  God  will  be  with  us  both,  and  for  both  the 
consummation  of  our  bliss  is  yet  to  be." 

After  the  death  of  his  wife  Mr.  Andrews  deter- 
mined to  leave  Kent,  to  take  service  under  the  re- 
stored Apostles.  This  he  had  looked  forward  to 
for  some  time  as  possible,  but  he  waited  till  the 
providence  of  God  should  open  the  way.  During 
the  winter  following  her  death  he  continued  to  per- 
form his  pastoral  work.  But  in  the  spring  (1849)  ^e 
gave  notice  to  his  friends  of  his  purpose  to  call  the 
Consociation  to  dissolve  the  pastoral  relation.  His 
more  intimate  friends  were  not  greatly  surprised 
at  this,  though  they  regretted  it.  In  April  Atwater 
wrote : 

"  I  am  grieved  to  hear  that  you  are  to  be  dismissed. 
Your  known  principles  in  regard  to  the  permanence  of 
the  pastoral  tie  lead  me  to  conclude  that  you  judge 
yourself  to  be  called  of  God  to  this  important  step. 
What  is  the  way  in  which  He  is  guiding  you  ?  Let  me 
hear  from  you  as  soon  as  convenient,  and  believe  me  as 
ever  yours  in  Christ." 

A  little  later  Mr.  Andrews  received  a  letter  from 


Last  Years  in  Kent  67 

Porter,  speaking  of  "  the  great  interest  and  some 
anxiety  "  with  which  he  had  learned  of  his  request 
for  a  dismissal  from  his  people  : 

"  If  I  had  thought  it  would  do  any  good,  I  should 
have  asked  you  to  reconsider  this  determination  taken 
by  you.  But  I  feel  more  concern  in  respect  to  your 
future  course,  and  I  must  beg  of  you  by  all  the  claims 
which  our  long-tried  friendship  gives  me  the  right  to 
urge,  not  to  go  from  this  part  of  the  country  without 
making  me  a  long  and  good  visit.  There  are  some 
things  which  I  feel  very  desirous  to  go  over  with  you, 
and  which  it  may  be  for  our  mutual  advantage  to  review 
together,  to  say  nothing  of  the  refreshment  of  the  old 
affections.  We  shall  expect  a  visit  of  some  weeks. 
You  do  not  sell  your  books,  I  trust.  Leave  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas,  and  Peter  Lombard,  and  sundry  other  things 
for  me. ' ' 

On  May  15th  the  North  Consociation  of  Litchfield 
County  met  at  Kent,  and  he  read  before  it  a  paper 
giving  his  reasons  for  asking  to  be  released  from  his 
pastorate ;  and  by  the  act  of  the  Consociation  the 
relation  was  dissolved,  the  act  to  take  effect  on  the 
2 1st  of  May.'     But  this  action  of  the  Consociation 

■  The  following  extract  is  made  from  the  record  : 
"  In  taking  this  step  the  Consociation  feel  bound  to  express  their 
dissent  from  Mr.  Andrews  in  the  views  embodied  in  the  paper  he 
has  submitted  to  them,  and  to  express  their  conviction  that  the  pro- 
mulgation of  these  views  will  not  tend  to  the  edification  or  purity  of 
the  churches.  At  the  same  time  Consociation  wish  to  add,  that 
Rev.  Mr.  Andrews  holds  a  high  place  in  their  esteem  and  affection- 
ate regard,  on  account  of  his  many  amiable  and  eminent  personal 
quahties — that  we  feel  a  confidence  in  the  honesty  of  his  convictions, 
and  the  reality  of  his  Christian  character — and  wish  also  to  express 
the  earnest  hope  and  prayer  that  he  may  be  recovered  from  the 
errors  into  which  we  believe  him  to  have  fallen." 


68         William  Watson  Andrews 

did  not  affect  his  ministerial  standing  as  a  member 
of  the  Association ;  nor  did  this  last  body  for  a  con- 
siderable time  take  any  action  in  the  matter.  Of 
this  we  shall  speak  in  its  place.  Writing  to  Porter, 
October,  1849,  ^^-  Andrews  says: 

"I  am  very  glad  that  the  Association  of  Litchfield 
North  did  not  feel  called  to  pass  any  censure  upon  me  at 
its  last  meeting,  or  to  take  any  step  to  separate  me  from 
its  communion.  For  I  feel  just  as  strongly  bound  to  the 
Congregational  Church  as  ever,  and  did  not  look  upon 
this  step  as  casting  any  reproach  upon  their  ministry. 
The  light,  grace,  and  blessing  to  be  ministered  by  an 
Apostolic  ministry  is  not  to  subvert,  but  to  lift  up  and 
strengthen  and  enlarge  that  which  already  exists.  .  .  . 
I  long  for  the  grace  and  blessing  to  flow  forth  to  dear  old 
Connecticut,  and  to  the  fathers  and  brethren  whom  I 
honor  and  love  for  their  faithfulness;  and  shall  never 
cease  to  honor  and  love,  whatever  they  may  say  of  me." 

On  the  Sunday  following  Mr.  Andrews  delivered 
a  farewell  sermon,  which  was  afterward  printed,  and 
to  which  was  prefixed  the  "  Statement  of  Reasons  " 
read  before  the  Consociation ;  and  in  the  second 
edition,  an  "  Introductory  Preface."  This  sermon 
is  reprinted  at  the  close  of  this  volume.' 

'  This  "  Statement  of  Reasons  "  and  the  sermon  were  thus  noticed 
in  the  C/turc/i  Review  of  October,  1849  : 

"  A  most  remarkable  production.  In  a  retired  country  Congrega- 
tional parish,  a  mind  endued  with  rare  gifts,  and  enriched  with 
superior  attainments,  has  been  communing  with  high  and  holy 
truths  ;  has  been  yearning  after  spiritual  life  ;  has  been  feeling  its 
way  gradually,  but  surely,  out  of  a  system  which  it  wholly  distrusted  ; 
and  has  embraced  many,  most  of  those  deep  realities  of  the  Christian 
system,  which  have  been  the  heritage  of  the  Apostolic  Church  from 


Last  Years  in  Kent  69 

In  June  he  writes  to  Porter : 

"  You  have  doubtless  heard  that  the  deed  is  done,  and 
that  I  have  ceased  to  be  the  pastor  of  Kent.  I  am 
writing  in  an  empty  house,  my  children  gone,  my  furni- 
ture sold,  my  books  sent  away,  or  strewed  upon  the  floor, 
and  my  mother  and  I  the  sole  remaining  family,  just 
lingering  for  a  few  days.  It  is  a  complete  breaking  up, 
and  I  feel  like  one  beginning  life  anew.  But  I  never 
can,  nor  have  I  any  wish  to  begin  it  with  the  earthly 
hopes  that  swelled  my  heart  fifteen  years  ago.  These 
are  all  buried  in  the  grave  where  my  dear  wife  is  resting, 
and  all  my  longings  now  are  for  the  revealing  of  that 
kingdom  in  which  alone  we  can  find  perfect  and  endur- 
ing blessedness.  That  all  things  needful  for  me  and 
mine  will  be  provided,  I  have  no  doubt,  and  beyond  that 
I  have  no  care." 

We  may  at  the  close  of  Mr.  Andrews'  pastorate 
in  Kent  and  of  his  Congregational  ministry,  take  a 
brief  survey  of  it,  with  some  details  of  his  home  life. 

It  was  certain  from  the  nature  of  the  case  that 
the  presentation  from  the  pulpit  of  the  larger  truths 
respecting  the  purpose  of  God  in  Christ  and  the 
Church  which  Mr.  Andrews  had  received,  would  be 
listened  to  by  some  of  his  hearers  with  disfavor,  and 

the  first.  There  is  a  single  link  wanting  in  the  author's  argument. 
He  seems  to  overlook  the  perpetuity  and  binding  obligation  of 
Christ's  positive  Institutions,  distrusts  where  he  ought  to  exhibit 
faith,  gratitude,  and  obedience  ;  and  substitutes  therefor  extraor- 
dinary agencies  with  alleged  extraordinary  attestations.  Respecting 
Miracles,  Prophecy,  and  the  Second  Advent,  Mr.  Andrews  takes  the 
general  view  of  the  Irving  School,  which  has  at  intervals  gained 
temporary  and  limited  credence  from  an  early  period.  As  an  indi- 
cation of  a  deeper  and  more  earnest  thoughtfulness,  the  pamphlet 
merits  attention." 


70         William  Watson  Andrews 

the  desire  be  expressed  by  them  that  he  would 
confine  himself  within  the  limitations  of  the  old 
New  England  theology.  The  trouble  with  them 
was  not  that  he  believed  less  than  they,  but  that 
he  believed  more.  There  were  others,  of  his  peo- 
ple, however,  in  growing  sympathy  with  him  as  they 
understood  him  better;  and  with  all  there  was  the 
firm  conviction  that  he  held  and  taught  all  the  great 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith.  They  saw  the 
place  which  Christ  held  in  his  theology,  and  how 
the  purpose  of  God  in  human  history  centred  in  His 
Person ;  and  if  he  opened  to  them  the  largeness  of 
that  purpose  in  a  way  that  was  new  to  them,  they 
saw  that  the  new  was  not  in  opposition  to  but  con- 
firmed the  old;  and  their  confidence  in  him  as  a 
teacher  of  God's  truth  was  strengthened  year  by 
year. 

This  confidence  was  confirmed  by  his  continual 
appeal  to  the  Holy  Scriptures.  He  liked  to  quote 
directly  from  them,  finding  the  passages  he  sought 
with  almost  marvellous  celerity.  His  interpreta- 
tions, if  not  always  accepted  at  once,  were  always 
illuminating,  and  stimulated  to  further  inquiry.  All 
had  entire  confidence  that  he  was  not  seeking  to 
distinguish  himself  by  propounding  novelties.  He 
spoke  only  what  he  believed  to  be  the  truth  of  God, 
and  he  spoke  with  earnestness,  for  he  would  have 
them  believe  what  he  believed.  It  may  be  said  of 
him  as  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  he  believed,  and  there- 
fore he  spake. 

Of  Mr.  Andrews  as  a  man  amongst  men,  it  need 
only  be  said  that  he  won  general  respect  from  all 
classes.     In    manner    he    was    always    simple    and 


Last  Years  in  Kent  71 

unaffected,  without  any  assumption  of  superiority, 
and  was  accessible  to  all,  but  with  a  quiet  dignity 
which  forbade  undue  familiarity.  He  was  an  agree- 
able companion,  having  a  wide  range  of  general  in- 
formation, with  considerable  power  of  description, 
and  a  keen  appreciation  of  wit  and  humor.  He 
took  much  interest  in  matters  of  agriculture,  most 
of  his  parishioners  being  farmers;  and  his  own  little 
garden,  tilled  by  himself,  was  one  of  the  most  fruit- 
ful in  the  town, 

A  poor  clergyman's  library  is  necessarily  small, 
and  Mr.  Andrews'  library  was  no  exception ;  yet 
with  the  enthusiasm  of  a  scholar  who  prefers  a  new 
book  to  a  new  coat,  and  with  the  help  of  an  occa- 
sional gift  from  friends,  he  gradually  gathered  a 
library  respectable  in  the  number  of  its  books,  and 
with  some  not  often  found  in  like  collections.  Of 
the  character  and  extent  of  his  reading  at  this  time, 
some  mention  has  already  been  made.  Milton, 
both  in  his  prose  and  poetry,  and  Sir  Francis 
Bacon,  were  especial  favorites,  and  of  his  familiarity 
with  Shakespeare — a  copy  of  which  was  a  college 
prize — we  shall  see  later  an  illustration.  Of  the 
writers  of  the  day  he  admired  Ruskin  as  much  as 
any,  particularly  in  his  earlier  writings;  and  he 
cared  more  for  Wordsworth  and  Coleridge  than  for 
the  later  poets. 

Of  the  home  life  of  Mr.  Andrews  we  can  speak 
only  very  briefly.  In  this  he  was  singularly  happy. 
His  wife,  who  sacrificed  much  to  share  comparative 
poverty  with  him,  was  eminently  fitted  by  the  love- 
liness of  her  temper  and  strength  of  character,  and 
by  her  intellectual  gifts  and  attainments,  to  be  his 


T2         William  Watson  Andrews 

companion  and  helper  in  his  varied  and  often  pain- 
ful experiences.  She  had  a  real,  though  little  used, 
power  of  literary  expression,  both  in  prose  and 
verse ;  and  read  with  her  husband  appreciatively  the 
philosophical  writings  of  Coleridge,  and  the  best  of 
the  old  and  modern  English  poets. 

This  beautiful  domestic  life,  this  union  of  "  plain 
living  and  high  thinking,"  much  attracted  his  peo- 
ple, and  influenced  their  own  home  life.  They  saw 
that  high  intellectual  culture  and  refinement  of  man- 
ners could  exist  where  the  wife  and  mother  worked 
with  her  own  hands  in  tasks  which  to  many  seem 
menial  and  degrading.  They  saw  also  that  it  was 
religion  that  enriched  and  ennobled  the  family  life, 
that  shed  brightness  upon  lowly  dwellings,  and  made 
them  the  radiant  abodes  of  peace. 

The  pastoral  bond,  strong  through  the  mutual 
love  and  confidence  of  pastor  and  people,  was  made 
still  stronger  by  the  pastor's  belief  of  its  sacredness 
and  permanence.  There  are  many  temptations  to 
regard  it,  especially  the  first  pastorate,  as  tentative, 
a  step  to  something  beyond.  Mr.  Andrews  felt  in 
his  seclusion,  as  most  young  ministers  feel,  the  loss 
of  that  companionship  of  friends  devoted  to  letters 
which  makes  student  life  so  stimulating  and  delight- 
ful to  intellectual  men.  He  missed,  also,  some  of 
those  social  privileges  which  can  be  found  only  in 
large  communities.  To  these  temptations  were 
added  the  solicitations  and  remonstrances  of  friends 
who  thought  he  was  doing  injustice  to  himself  by 
continuing  in  so  hidden  a  parish. 

But  he  believed  that  he  and  his  people  were  united 
by  God's  ordinance  in  a  bond,  than  which  that  of 


Last  Years  in  Kent  iz 

marriage  itself  was  scarcely  holier;  and  which  it 
would  be  almost  equally  a  sacrilege  to  break  of  his 
own  accord.  In  1841  he  wrote  an  article  for  the 
Neiv  York  Observer  on  The  Pastoral  Relation,  setting 
forth  his  conviction  that  it  should  be  permanent 
because  Divinely  constituted.  And  when,  eight 
years  later,  he  did  leave  his  people,  very  much 
against  their  will,  he  did  so  not  because  he  expected 
or  desired  any  temporal  advantage  from  the  step, 
but  because  he  was  entirely  sure  that  God,  who  had 
now  separated  him  by  death  from  the  wife  of  his 
youth,  had  decreed  the  other  separation  also.  He 
was  rewarded  for  his  fidelity  by  such  a  love  on  the 
part  of  his  congregation  as  few  pastors  have  ever 
received — a  love  which  the  flight  of  almost  half 
a  century  never  weakened,  and  was  expressed 
throughout  that  period  in  a  multitude  of  ways. 
Some  illustrations  of  these  will  be  given  later. 


CHAPTER  VI 


PASTORATE   IN    POTSDAM 


AFTER  leaving  Kent,  Mr.  Andrews  went  in 
the  autumn  of  1849  ^^  Potsdam,  in  St. 
Lawrence  County,  New  York,  where  he  re- 
mained till  1857  in  charge  of  a  little  congregation 
gathered  some  years  before  by  the  labors  of  an 
English  evangelist.  Its  members  were  people 
drawn  from  several  religious  bodies,  and  needed 
much  instruction  as  to  the  Church,  its  ministries 
and  ordinances,  and  the  principles  and  order  of  wor- 
ship. For  a  time  they  had  been  put  under  the  care 
of  an  Episcopal  clergyman  of  the  vicinity,  but  were 
now  placed  in  charge  of  Mr.  Andrews.  His  work  there 
was  that  of  the  pastor,  not  of  the  evangelist,  and  his 
pastorate  had  several  features  distinguishing  it  from 
his  pastorate  in  Kent.  So  far  as  the  pastoral  care  of 
individuals  was  concerned,  both  were  in  substance 
the  same;  but  in  the  services  of  worship  and  the 
manner  of  his  teachings  they  were  widely  different. 
At  Potsdam  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered 
every  Sunday  morning,  and  only  a  short  homily 
was   given,  the   prayers,    full   and    comprehensive, 

74 


Pastorate  in  Potsdam  75 

holding  the  first  place.  In  the  evening  was  a  ser- 
vice of  evening  prayer,  at  which  a  pastoral  teach- 
ing was  given,  intended  primarily  for  the  flock. 
Sermons  were  preached,  at  such  times  as  were  ap- 
pointed, on  the  leading  truths  of  the  Christian  faith, 
and  were  open  to  all.  There  were  also  special  ser- 
vices on  the  various  feast-days.  His  people  were 
taught  that  the  words  from  God  spoken  to  them  by 
His  ministers  were  to  prepare  them  to  worship  Him 
in  the  beauty  of  holiness. 

The  position  of  the  congregation  was  an  enigma 
to  the  people  around  them.  The  teachings  were  in 
maqy  respects  new  and  scarcely  intelligible,  espe- 
cially those  referring  to  ministries  and  spiritual  gifts; 
and  the  rites  of  worship  were  to  many  strange,  and 
to  some  repellent.  The  general  feeling  was  that  it 
was  the  offspring  of  a  fanatical,  or  at  least  a  vision- 
ary, movement,  which  would  be  short-lived,  and 
from  which  all  sober-minded  Christians  should  hold 
themselves  aloof.  Mr.  Andrews,  as  an  entire 
stranger  in  the  vicinity,  found  himself  excluded 
from  religious  communion  with  the  various  minis- 
ters of  the  region  around,  and  from  social  inter- 
course ;  and  for  a  time  was  left  to  give  himself 
wholly  to  the  care  of  his  flock  and  to  his  own 
studies. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  early  part  of 
his  life  in  Potsdam  was  one  of  much  loneliness  and 
depression.  Feeling  deeply  the  death  of  his  wife, 
the  breaking  up  of  his  home,  the  separation  from 
his  children,  and  his  exclusion  from  religious  and 
social  intercourse,  he  several  times  in  his  diary 
speaks  of  his  isolation,  when  the  burden  laid  upon 


76         William  Watson  Andrews 

him  seemed  very  heavy  to  bear.  But  gradually  he 
became  acquainted  with  the  Episcopal  and  Presby- 
terian clergymen  of  the  neighborhood,  and  with 
members  of  their  congregations,  and  strangers 
were  frequently  seen  at  his  services.  Writing  to 
Porter  soon  after  his  arrival  at  Potsdam  (October, 
1849),  h^  says:  "  I  have  a  whole  house  to  myself 
where  I  study  and  sleep,  and  have  much  time  for 
both.  We  have  the  Communion  every  Sunday,  and 
Prayer  twice  in  the  week;  and  I  am  quite  content, 
far  happier  than  I  once  should  have  thought  it 
possible," 

The  letters  of  his  friends  were  some  of  them  not 
of  a  nature  to  encourage  and  cheer  him.  Thus  Dr. 
Lillie  wrote  (November,  1849): 

"  My  dear  Andrews,  your  account  of  your  loneliness 
saddened  me.  Had  I,  indeed,  your  confidence  that  you 
are  in  your  right  position,  I  should  with  Paul  only  bid 
you  rejoice,  and  I  should  rejoice  with  you.  But  it  is  just 
here  that  faith  fails  me  utterly.  On  the  contrary,  my 
conviction  is  as  strong  as  it  is  painful,  that  you  have  been 
deceived  with  regard  to  the  nature  of  this  work  by  your 
own  strong  resentment  of  the  evils  of  the  present  time. 
And  it  is  in  the  same  way  that  I  account  for  the  recent 
extension  of  these  ideas  in  Germany,  where  good  men 
are  very  generally  weaned  from  modern  ideals  to  a  sense 
of  Christendom's  desolations  and  perils,  and  so  prepared 
to  believe  that  God  may  really  have  restored  to  us  amid 
the  thickening  perplexities  that  guidance  of  inspired 
men  which  in  our  felt  weakness  seems  so  desirable." 

Letters  of  this  kind  from  his  friends,  assuring 
him  that  he  was  laboring  under  a  delusion,  did  not 


Pastorate  in  Potsdam  ^^ 

tend  to  lift  him  and  strengthen  him ;  but  they  did 
not  in  the  least  affect  his  faith  that  the  work  he  was 
engaged  in  was  of  God,  and  would  in  due  time 
manifest  itself  to  be  such  by  its  fruits;  and  that  his 
duty  was  to  abide  in  his  place,  teaching  his  little 
flock,  and  wait  patiently  for  the  acting  of  the  Lord. 
In  the  summer  of  185 1  he  visited  Kent,  where  he 
was  always  gladly  welcomed  by  his  old  parishioners, 
and  met  other  friends  in  Connecticut,  returning  to 
Potsdam  in  December,  In  a  letter  to  Porter,  early 
after  his  return,  he  writes: 

"  I  reached  my  old  and  lonely  quarters  in  these  hyper- 
borean regions  early  in  December,  and  have  been  at 
work  as  busily  ever  since  as  poor  health  and  poor  spirits 
would  let  me.  .  .  .  It  is  not  strictly  true  to  say  that 
I  am  in  poor  spirits,  for  I  am  not  troubled  and  dejected, 
which  is  what  men  mean  by  low  spirits;  but  I  so  miss  the 
genial  influence  of  home,  and  of  fraternal  intercourse 
with  the  clergy,  that  my  mind  and  heart  drop  down  to 
zero,  and  lie  frozen  in  a  polar  sea.  It  is  certainly 
psychologically  curious  to  see  how  much  the  healthful 
activity  of  our  intellect  depends  on  the  atmosphere  we 
breathe,  and  how  impossible  it  is  for  almost  all  to  rouse 
themselves  by  a  mere  act  of  will  to  movements  which 
under  happier  circumstances  would  be  free  and  spon- 
taneous. Ah!  you  will  say,  you  deserve  it  for  following 
an  ignis  fatiius  j  you  have  brought  it  all  upon  yourself, 
and  have  no  right  to  complain.  True,  very  true,  and  I 
do  not  complain.  I  only  tell  you  as  my  friend,  inter- 
ested in  all  my  mental  and  spiritual  experiences,  the 
matter  of  fact,  that  I  never  found  it  so  hard  to  study,  or 
rather  to  bring  into  form  the  knowledge  I  have  long 
been  laying  up.     You  know  me  well  enough  to  believe 


78  William  Watson  Andrews 

that  if  I  had  a  suspicion  that  I  was  following  an  ignis 
fatuus,  I  should  quickly  retrace  my  steps,  for  it  is  no 
pleasure  for  me  to  walk  alone  as  one  separated  from  his 
brethren. 

"  Nothing  concerns  the  whole  Church  more  than  this 
movement,  if  it  be  of  God.  .  .  .  There  is  need,  and 
we  all  know  it  and  must  confess  it,  of  a  Reformation  of 
a  truly  comprehensive  and  catholic  character,  large 
enough  in  its  principles  and  scope  to  embrace  the  whole 
of  Christendom.  It  is  time  for  the  different  parties  to 
survey  each  other  more  charitably,  and  to  ask  whether 
unity  is  a  chimera,  and  not  rather  an  essential  element 
of  the  Church, — an  element  that  must  be  manifested  too, 
that  the  world  may  believe.  .  .  ,  What  a  comfort  to 
know  that  God  rules  amongst  men,  and  that  every  hostile 
step  they  take  helps  forward  purposes  which  they  abhor. 
Men  are  forgetting  the  living  God,  and  substituting  a 
Deity,  an  impersonal  abstraction,  a  final  Cause,  instead 
of  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Mr.  Andrews  continued  to  take  a  deep  interest  in 
the  questions  of  theology  then  exciting  attention 
in  New  England,  in  which  Dr.  Bushnell  and  Dr. 
Atwater  were  leading  disputants.  He  writes  to 
Porter: 

"  I  spent  Sunday  with  Atwater,  after  leaving  you.  He 
was  very  cordial,  and  the  visit  was  very  pleasant  and  re- 
freshing. But  I  could  not  help  wishing  that  he  had  not 
become  so  early  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  systems  and 
parties,  for  I  am  sure  the  free  play  of  his  generous  heart 
has  been  hindered.  He  is  full  of  earnestness  and 
strength,  and  if  he  was  sailing  on  the  free  and  open  sea, 
he  would  do  the  Church  much  service.  I  quite  honor 
him  for  his  manful  defense  of  the  Trinity,  which,  it  is 


Pastorate  in  Potsdam  79 

quite  useless  to  deny  it,  has  been  undermined  by  recent 
speculations." 

In  another  letter  of  the  same  year  to  Porter 
(June,  1852),  he  speaks  of  his  health  as  better,  and 
adds: 

"  I  am  as  cheerful  as  I  could  hope  to  be  in  this  broken 
drift-wood  way  of  living.  I  do  not  work  very  hard,  I  do 
not  think  I  ever  shall  again.  I  have  not  the  heart  for  it. 
What  is  the  use  of  writing  ten  folio  volumes,  like  Thomas 
Aquinas,  or  twice  as  many  duodecimos  (not  half  so  valu- 
able), like  Albert  Barnes  ?  Why  cannot  a  man  digest 
and  condense  the  matter  that  is  in  him,  and  give  it  out 
within  reasonable  limits,  and  have  done  with  it  ?  " 

In  the  same  letter  he  says: 

"I  have  read  your  book,  The  Educational  Systems  of 
the  Puritans  a?id  'J^esuits  Compared^  and  much  of  it  I  like 
well.  I  like  all  your  writings  for  their  clearness  and 
simplicity  of  style,  and  the  directness  with  which  they 
come  to  the  point.  I  do  not  know  that  I  should  take 
any  exception  to  what  you  say  of  the  Jesuits,  although 
your  condemnation  of  the  Church  of  Rome  would  be 
more  wholesale  (not  more  decided)  than  mine.  But  I 
think  you  exaggerate  the  truth  which  is  in  Puritanism, 
and  make  of  a  single  element  a  whole  harmonious  system. 
The  defect  of  Puritanism  is  its  lack  of  the  positive.  In- 
dividuality is  a  very  good  thing,  an  indispensable  thing  as 
a  prerequisite;  but  any  number  of  bricks  do  not  make  a 
building.  Puritanism  is  not  constructive.  It  prepares 
the  stones,  but  does  not  put  them  in  their  places.  What 
can  be  more  negative  than  Congregationalism  when  it  as- 
sumes the  type  of  Independency  ?  I  protest  I  can  make 
neither  head  nor  tail  of  it.     All  is  head,  and  there  is  no 


8o         William  Watson  Andrews 

tail,  unless  it  be  the  poor  minister.  Any  number  of  the 
brethren  can  secede  and  set  up  for  themselves,  elect  and 
ordain  ministers,  establish  sacraments  and  laws;  and  all 
this  is  valid  according  to  the  principle  of  the  system.  I 
never  believed  in  any  such  self-destroying  doctrine. 
The  Congregationalism  under  which  I  grew  up,  and  in 
which  I  did  a  willing  work,  recognized  authority  from 
God,  and  ordination  by  His  ministers.  The  indepen- 
dency of  The  Independent  is  downright  chaos." 

Some  of  his  friends  who  had  imperfect  knowledge 
of  his  belief,  thought  him  on  the  point  of  going 
over  to  Rome.  In  a  letter  from  a  lady  with  whom 
he  had  had  much  correspondence,  she  expresses  the 
fear  that  he  may  be  misinterpreting  prophecy, 
though  she  was  sure  that  "  no  personal  evil  could 
befall  one  who  had  so  earnestly  sought  the  truth." 
In  another  letter  she  writes: 

"  I  have  read  your  pamphlets  carefully,  and  with  some 
wonder.  I  never  doubted  your  catholicity  when  you 
were  to  the  outer  world  the  follower  of  John  Calvin; 
and  I  hope  and  pray  that  you  may  not  be  persuaded  to 
become  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  that  your  fine  mind 
should  be  laid  under  a  bondage  which  neither  we  nor 
our  fathers  were  able  to  bear.  You  will  permit  me  to  tell 
you  that  I  am  mystified  as  regards  your  present  position, 
and  that  I  feel  that  you  will  not  always  be  able  to  main- 
tain the  ground  you  now  occupy;  and  the  thought  con- 
stantly arises,  what  will  be  the  end  of  all  this  ?  When 
will  this  wandering  star  find  its  true  orbit  ?  .  .  . 
Being  contented,  and  finding  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  enough  to  fill  my  heart  and  satisfy  my  tastes,  my 
dear  and  much  respected  though  erratic  friend,  there  let 
me  abide." 


Pastorate  in  Potsdam  8i 

How  some  of  his  neighbors  in  Potsdam  began 
better  to  understand  and  appreciate  him,  and  to 
seek  social  intercourse,  is  illustrated  in  a  letter  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Metcalf,  dated  Hobart  Free  College, 
August,  1852.  Acknowledging  a  pamphlet  from 
Mr.  Andrews,  he  says : 

"  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  be  remembered  by  you 
in  this  way.  My  friends  in  Potsdam  occasionally  men- 
tion you  in  their  letters,  and  always  with  respect.  .  .  . 
The  truth  is,  your  views  and  feelings  and  spirit  are  so 
congenial  to  those  of  mine,  and  of  most  Churchmen 
whose  piety  is  founded  upon  the  model  of  our  Liturgy, 
that  I  cannot  realize  that  you  are  not  one  of  us." 

In  a  letter  of  January,  1853,  Mr.  Andrews  wrote 
that  he  had  been  reading  Wilkinson  on  TJie  Human 
Body,  and  Reichenbach's  Dynamics  of  Magnetism  : 
"  the  one  showing  all  manner  of  vital  forces  and 
wonderful  doings  in  our  minds;  and  the  other, 
making  us  believe  that  everything  about  us  flames 
and  smokes  and  sparkles,  if  we  could  only  see  it ; 
while  if  I  only  had  such  a  rest  as  I  once  had 
amongst  the  mountains,  they  might  strain  their 
eyes  after  the  invisible  to  their  heart's  content,  and 
I  would  find  work  enough  for  mine  in  drinking  in 
that  glorious  combination  of  sun  and  cloud  that 
sometimes  made  that  mountain  seem  like  the  vesti- 
bule of  heaven.  Dear  old  Kent !  I  shall  never  look 
upon  its  like  again.  How  I  wish  we  could  spend  a 
week  in  wandering  at  will  over  the  old  familiar 
spots.  But  I  am  running  wild.  Memory  makes 
strange  work  with  us  at  times." 

In  1853  Professor    Porter   went   abroad  to  visit 


82  William  Watson  Andrews 

England,  and  to  study  for  a  time  in  Germany, 
taking  from  Mr.  Andrews  some  letters  of  introduc- 
tion to  English  friends.  In  sending  them  he  writes: 
"  Do  you  remember  that  it  is  now  twenty  years 
since  in  the  first  gush  of  enthusiasm  about  '  the 
spiritual  gifts  '  I  sought  to  go  to  England,  but  only 
accomplished  it  ten  years  later  ?  You  will  now 
have  the  opportunity  of  seeing  the  fruits  thus  slowly 
elaborated  of  what  seemed  to  most  an  outburst  of 
fanaticism  that  would  soon  die  away.  It  has 
showed  itself  to  be  no  mushroom  to  wither  in  a 
night;  and  look  wisely  to  see  if  the  fruits  be  not  of 
the  tree  of  life." 

Dr.  Porter  early  visited  Albury,  the  place  where 
most  of  the  Apostles  resided.  He  writes  under 
date  of  September,  1853:  "  At  London  stayed  two 
weeks;  there  I  saw  most  of  your  friends,  who 
treated  me  very  kindly.  Mrs.  Porter  and  myself 
had  a  most  delightful  visit  at  Albury."  His  com- 
ments on  the  religious  condition  of  England  cannot 
be  given  here,  but  he  expresses  himself  as  being 
little  in  sympathy  with  any  of  the  existing  religious 
bodies — the  Roman  Catholic,  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, or  the  Dissenters;  and  he  "  was  not  in  any 
way  inspired  by  their  worship."  "  The  want  with 
which  I  am  everywhere  affected  is  the  want  of  an 
intelligent  and  thinking  people." 

In  reply  Mr.  Andrews  wrote:  "  You  speak  of  the 
Cathedral  service  as  artistically  fine,  but  as  not  help- 
ing devotion.  It  would  not  create  it,  but  I  think 
would  help  it.  Why  should  not  worship  be  mag- 
nificent ?  .  .  .  I  have  never  witnessed  the 
Cathedral   service,    but    I    do    not    in    my    limited 


Pastorate  in  Potsdam  83 

experience  find  forms  to  quench  the  spirit  of  devo- 
tion. I  think  that  the  heart  would  more  easily  rise  to 
God  in  a  building  in  which  everything  seemed  to 
speak  of  Him,  and  you  felt  yourself  encompassed  by 
a  sacred  atmosphere.  But  I  can  easily  suppose  that 
through  the  decay  of  faith,  little  true  devotion  is 
left,  and  that  the  shows  and  shams  which  have 
taken  the  place  of  it  must  be  repulsive  enough  to 
one  accustomed  to  the  rugged  Puritan  earnestness. 
I  was  never  a  moment  drawn  toward  the  Roman 
system.  I  can  now  see  how  much  truth  lies  buried 
there,  and  can  believe  that  many  a  pious  soul  has 
been  nourished  by  it  in  spite  of  all  its  adulterations 
and  corruptions.  But  I  find  it  hard  to  understand 
how  any  one  can  go  over  to  Rome,  surrendering 
himself  bodily  to  the  monstrous  dogma  of  the  in- 
fallibility of  the  Church,  not  as  an  idea  and  an 
obligation,  but  as  a  realized  fact."  After  speaking 
of  some  preachers  whom  he  had  heard  in  England, 
he  adds:  "  The  only  preaching  worth  hearing  is 
the  earnest,  unaffected  utterance  of  a  truth  which 
men  need  to  know.  If  the  truth  is  in  it,  and  finds 
fitting  utterance,  it  will  be  heard,  no  matter  what 
our  idiosyncrasies  may  be." 

Speaking  of  his  religious  position,  he  says: 

"  If  the  present  movement  could  fail,  I  should  never- 
theless believe  that  by  the  restoration  of  Apostles  alone 
could  the  healing  and  building  up  and  leading  forward 
of  the  Church  be  accomplished.  .  .  .  It  is  clear  that 
Christendom  needs  some  deep,  mighty,  and  comprehen- 
sive Divine  work  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  crisis. 
Nothing  shallow,  or  feeble,  or  sectarian  will  answer.  It 
must  embrace  all  good  that  has  been,  all  that  is,  and  all 


84         William  Watson  Andrews 

that  as  yet  lies  disclosed  in  the  purpose  of  God,  but  is 
unaccomplished.  .  .  .  Mere  zeal  and  earnestness 
will  not  do.  Mere  power  in  preaching  the  Gospel  as  a 
means  of  individual  salvation  will  not  do.  These  shall 
have  their  place,  but  there  must  be  much  more.  The 
whole  fruit  of  the  growth  of  eighteen  centuries  must  be 
there,  but  separated  from  whatever  is  not  of  God  that 
has  been  during  the  centuries  mingled  with  it.  The  prog- 
ress of  the  present  work  is  constantly  in  that  direction. 
There  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  history  of  the  Church  for 
the  exhibition  of  a  catholic  spirit,  and  for  the  reunion  of 
elements  which  have  heretofore  stood  in  antagonism,  but 
are  now  reconciled  in  a  deeper  unity.  These  things 
would  not  strike  an  outside  observer,  and  he  might 
naturally  enough  class  the  work  with  the  fanatical  and 
extravagant  movements  of  which  Church  history  is  so 
full.  But  in  its  aims,  spirit,  principles,  and  fruits,  it 
differs  toto  ccelo  from  anything  I  have  ever  heard  or  read 
of.  I  have  found  enough  in  my  own  experience  of  trial 
and  discouragement,  and  yet  I  was  never  more  assured 
that  it  is  of  God,  and  has  a  glorious  mission  to  accom- 
plish." 

During  these  years  he  had  much  correspondence 
with  clergymen,  Episcopal  and  others,  of  whom 
many  took  service  later  under  the  Apostles.  Most 
of  these  have  died,  but  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Davenport, 
long  associated  with  him  in  the  evangelist  ministry, 
is  still  living  at  the  serene  old  age  of  ninety-one,  full 
of  the  faith  that  the  Lord  will  carry  on  the  work 
He  has  begun  to  a  glorious  consummation. 

In  September,  1853,  Mr.  Andrews  read  before  the 
North  Association  of  Litchfield  County,  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  a  paper  on  The  True  Constitution 
of  the  Church  and  its  Restoration.     This  paper  was 


Pastorate  in  Potsdam  85 

in  response  to  a  motion  (of  which  previous  notice 
had  been  given)  that  his  name  be  erased  from  the 
list  of  members,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  with- 
drawn from  the  Congregational  ministry.'  The 
paper,  being  too  long  to  be  read  in  whole,  was  com- 
pleted and  published  in  1854.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
Association  in  this  year,  Mr.  Andrews'  name  was 
stricken  from  its  roll  of  members.  Of  this  he  writes : 
"  I  appeared  before  my  Association  in  September, 
and  read  in  part  a  statement  or  Apologia,  which 
will  be  printed  when  I  have  time  to  rewrite  it.  No 
charges  were  preferred,  but  as  a  matter  of  ecclesi- 
astical order  some  felt  that  my  name  should  be 
dropped.  It  seemed  a  good  opportunity  to  show 
the  nature  of  the  work  I  was  engaged  in,  and  that 
my  course  involved  no  renunciation  of  my  brethren, 
or  even  condemnation."  ' 

^  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  action  of  the  Consociation  (consist- 
ing of  ministers  and  representatives  of  churches)  in  terminating  his 
pastoral  functions  in  1849,  had  not  separated  him  from  the  Associa- 
tion, which  consists  only  of  ministers,  whether  pastors  or  otherwise. 

'^  It  may  be  well  at  this  point  to  note  how  this  paper  was  received 
by  his  brethren  of  the  Congregational  body,  and  by  the  religious 
community,  as  shown  by  the  articles  in  the  press. 

The  Ne-cv  York  Observer  (Presbyterian):  "This  statement  of 
reasons  for  withdrawal  from  the  Congregational  ministry  appears  to 
us,  and  to  our  readers,  we  presume,  no  reason  at  all.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Andrews  dates  his  manifesto  from  Potsdam,  and  we  suppose  that  he 
has  been  called  to  be  an  Apostle  or  Angel,  or  that  he  will  be  when  the 
Church  is  fully  organized.  From  this  narrative  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  new  society  is  nothing  more  than  an  outbreak  of  the  Edward 
Irving  fanaticism,  and  that  it  will  blaze  awhile  and  die  as  suddenly. 
We  record  it  as  a  part  of  the  religious  history  of  the  time,  and  as 
another  evidence  of  the  danger  and  folly  of  trusting  to  any  other 
guide  than  the  word  of  God." 

The    Christian   Intelligencer   (Dutch    Reformed):      "We    have 


86  William  Watson  Andrews 

On  May  12,  1854,  Mr,  Andrews  was  raised  to  the 
rank  of  the  Episcopate.  It  may  be  remarked  here, 
that  in  the  apostolic  order  of  ministries  the  borders 
of  the  pastoral  and  the  evangelistic  ofBces  are  kept 
distinct.  The  evangelist  preaches  as  he  can  find 
hearers,  and  those  receiving  his  word  are  committed 
by  him  to  the  pastor  for  pastoral  instruction  and 
care.  In  each  of  these  ministries  there  are  three 
degrees — deacon,  priest,  and  angel  or  bishop. 

With    the    exception    of    a    brief    tour    to    do 

received  the  pamphlet  on  The  True  Constiluiion  of  the  Church,  by  the 
Rev.  W.  W.  Andrews,  who  modestly  aspires  to  the  apostleship  of 
the  true  Church  which  he  is  commissioned  to  erect.  The  pamphlet 
seems  to  have  been  written  in  self-defense,  and  while  it  has  the 
merit  of  being  frank  and  free  from  acrimony,  it  is  nevertheless  a 
jumble  of  crudities  and  incongruities  too  numerous  to  mention  or 
criticise  here." 

Hartford  Calendar  (Episcopalian)  :  "Some  one  has  sent  us  this 
pamphlet,  which  we  set  down  as  one  of  the  religious  phenomena  of 
the  day.  .  .  .  Mr.  Andrews  is  a  decided  mystic.  He  manifests 
the  yearning  after  the  absolute  in  doctrine  and  the  gorgeous  in  ritual, 
which  has  carried  many  a  man  into  the  embrace  of  Rome. 
We  will  only  add  that  the  Irvingite  sect  is  strongly  tinctured  with 
Second  Adveiit  doctrines." 

The  Congregationalist  (from  a  correspondent) :  "  Have  any  of  your 
readers  heard  of  the  modern  'Apostolic'  Church?  Well,  new  the- 
ories, like  quack  medicines,  are  likely  to  be  most  popular  by  assum- 
ing some  high-sounding  name.  .  .  .  We  must  say  that  Mr. 
Andrews'  '  Restoration  of  the  Church '  is  a  vulgar  compound  of 
Judaism,  Paganism,  and  Mormonism,  with  a  spicing  of  highly  fla- 
vored Popery.  .  .  .  Were  it  not  for  the  blasphemy  of  the  pre- 
tension of  a  restored  apostolate,  it  would  be  really  provocative 
of  laughter."  (Much  more  of  the  same  kind  follows.)  "Like 
most  men  of  his  class,  Mr.  Andrews  shows  great  confusion  of  thought 
on  points  which  differ.  Then  he  mixes  up  the  atoning  with  the 
intercessory  work  of  the  Saviour,  and  maintains  that  His  priestly 
work  did  not  begin  till  He  rose  from  the  dead  and  ascended  into 
the  presence  of  God." 


Pastorate  in  Potsdam  87 

evangelistic  work  in  Northern  New  England,  and 
a  visit  to  Ohio  in  1855,  Mr,  Andrews  continued 
quietly  in  his  pastoral  work.  In  that  year  Mr. 
Thomas  Carlyle,  one  of  the  Apostles,  died.  His 
death,  the  first  in  the  apostolic  ranks,  was  thought 
by  many  without  to  be  a  serious  blow  to  the  work, 
as  they  supposed  that  it  was  the  belief  of  those  re- 
ceiving them  that  all  the  Apostles  would  live  to  the 
return  of  the  Lord.  Mr.  Andrews  writes:  "  His 
death  will  be  a  severe  loss,  for  he  was  a  man  of 
great  spiritual  light  and  insight,  and  most  abundant 
in  labors ;  but  our  faith  is  that  God  will  not  leave 
His  work  unfinished,  nor  forsake  those  whom  He 
has  led." 

In  the  latter  years  of  Mr.  Andrews'  residence  in 
Potsdam  he  had  much  pleasant  intercourse  with  the 
Rev.  Dr.  William  Staunton,  a  man  of  distinction  in 
the  Episcopal  Church.  Dr.  Staunton  some  years 
later  speaks  in  a  printed  paper  of  him : 

"  It  was  my  lot  some  years  ago  to  be  in  immediate 
contact  with  the  '  Irvingites, '  and  with  one  of  their  most 
accomplished  ministers,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Andrews.  They 
had  a  small  but  firm  and  well-instructed  congregation. 
Mr.  Andrews  was  an  able  man,  most  amiable  and  gentle- 
manly, and  a  frequent  inmate  of  my  study.  In  catholic 
doctrine  and  ritual  matters  he  was  so  far  in  advance  of 
anything  and  everybody  in  my  parish,  that  whenever  I 
wanted  to  have  a  good  High  Church  talk,  he  was  the 
man  for  the  occasion." 

In  July,  1855,  Mr.  Andrews  was  invited  to  deliver 
an  address  before  the  "  Society  of  Inquiry"  in 
Marietta  College,  Ohio,  of  which  his  brother,  Israel 


88         William  Watson  Andrews 

Ward  Andrews,  was  made  President  that  year,  and 
where  his  eldest  son  was  then  graduated.  This  ad- 
dress was  pubhshed  by  the  society  (New  York,  1856), 
under  the  title  of  The  Work  of  the  Church  in  America, 
especially  in  the  West.  Of  this  an  Episcopal  Church 
paper,  the  Calendar,  remarked : 

"  If  startling  facts,  and  glowing  imagery,  and  eloquent 
language,  and  important  truth,  could  render  a  discourse 
valuable,  this  would  be  one  of  high  merit.  But  while  it 
has  all  we  have  ascribed  to  it,  its  important  truths  are 
truths  only  in  part.  .  .  .  To  him  the  Church  of  his- 
tory has  no  real  importance  or  value.  According  to  his 
view  the  Church  has  been  shipwrecked,  broken  but  not 
destroyed,  and  it  is  our  duty  to  collect  the  fragments  and 
bring  them  together  into  unity." 

Another  paper,  the  Churchman,  remarked : 

"  Mr.  Andrews  is  evidently  a  man  for  the  times,  a  man 
of  clear  views,  and  of  the  requisite  courage  of  heart  and 
energy  of  mind  to  give  effect  to  them,  had  he  but  the 
opportunity.  We  hope  his  argument  may  be  carefully 
considered  both  within  and  without  the  pale  of  the 
visible  Church.  Our  only  regret  is  that  though  with  us 
so  much  at  heart,  he  is  separated  from  us  in  position." 

Dr.  Staunton  (February,  1856)  writes  to  the 
author:  "  Your  Marietta  address  I  read  with  in- 
terest, inasmuch  as  it  carried  very  much  the  tone 
of  a  production  of  some  sound,  able,  and  earnest 
Churchman,  and  admirably  written."  But  Dr. 
Staunton  takes  some  exception  to  it  on  the  ground 
that  it  speaks  of  the  Church  without  "  defining 
what  the  Church  is,   or  setting  before  his  hearers 


Pastorate  in  Potsdam  89 

any  definite  body  to  which  alone  that  title  is  ap- 
plicable."  "  Of  the  Church  you  speak  well,  wisely, 
and  eloquently,  but  you  leave  it  to  be  understood 
that  every  one  baptized  is  in  that  Church,  and  so 
leave  the  whole  thing  in  a  mist."  Mr.  Andrews  did 
not  feel  the  force  of  this  criticism,  for  he  stood  upon 
the  fact  that  the  Church  is  the  community  of  the 
baptized,  and  that  membership  thus  established  is 
not  dependent  upon  the  form  of  Church  polity,  or 
the  possession  of  more  or  less  ministries.  These 
are  most  important  elements  in  the  spiritual  culture 
of  the  baptized ;  but  it  is  the  act  of  God  in  baptism 
which  makes  one  a  member  of  the  Church,  and  this 
relation  no  sin  of  the  Church  can  make  void. 

In  January,  1856,  Mr.  Andrews  attended  the 
funeral  of  Mrs.  Olive  C.  Fuller  in  Kent,  and 
preached  a  funeral  sermon,  afterward  printed,  dwell- 
ing particularly  on  the  Resurrection,  a  doctrine 
which  had  great  significance  for  him. 

In  a  letter  to  Porter,  February,  1856,  he  speaks 
of  his  trip  to  the  West  of  the  year  before,  and  of 
the  places  he  visited  and  the  persons  he  met.  "  I 
had  never  been  beyond  Buffalo  before,  so  that 
though  not  strictly  a  terra  incognita,  it  had  yet  all 
the  freshness  of  novelty.  Ohio  strikes  me  as  a 
noble  State,  not  very  homogeneous  as  yet,  but  full 
of  resources,  and  promising  a  great  future,  if  she 
can  bring  the  elements  into  order.  The  colleges 
are  in  a  confused  state  enough,  and  it  must  be  a 
very  long  time  before  any  one  of  them  can  work  its 
way  into  a  commanding  position.  Marietta  is  as 
sound  and  healthy  as  any,  though  its  position 
hitherto  has  not  been  favorable  to  a  fjreat  influx  of 


90  William  Watson  Andrews 

students."  Of  the  college  at  Oberlin,  which  he 
calls  "  an  unique  institution,"  he  writes:  "  I  found 
more  to  like  than  I  expected,  and  came  away  think- 
ing a  good  deal  more  favorably  of  the  men  and  their 
work  than  we  commonly  do  at  the  East.  The  faith, 
earnestness,  and  self-sacrificing  spirit  which  has 
marked  them  from  the  first,  has  counteracted  the 
effect  of  an  erroneous  theology  in  no  small  degree, 
and  the  practical  results  of  their  system  have  been 
in  some  respects  very  striking.  I  could  not  learn 
that  the  mingling  of  the  sexes  in  recitations,  and  to 
some  extent  in  boarding-houses,  had  wrought  evil. 
Such  an  institution  is  not  to  be  judged  of 
by  the  old  scholastic  conventionalities.  It  has  been 
a  growth  of  the  time  and  the  land,  and  has  evidently 
met  at  least  a  temporary  necessity  better  than  most. ' ' 
Of  one  of  its  professors,  Morgan,  he  says:  "  I  was 
delighted  with  him  for  his  genial,  hearty  earnest- 
ness." ' 

He  met  during  this  trip  some  classmates  and  col- 
lege friends,  and  some  prominent  clergymen.  Of 
one  of  these,  the  Rev.  Henry  Neill,  he  writes:  "  I 
had  much  pleasant  and  quickening  intercourse  with 
him.  He  has  outgrown  the  dead  formulas  of  our 
ecclesiasticism  so  far  as  to  feel  that  there  must  be  a 
reality  in  the  Church  beyond  what  our  individualism 
gives  it.     And  it  is  just  because  such  thoughts  are 

'  It  is  stated  by  one  well  acquainted  with  Oberlin  that,  on  this 
visit,  Professor  Morgan  (whose  department  was  Biblical  Exegesis  of 
the  New  Testament)  vacated  his  chair  at  one  of  his  lectures  on  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  requested  Mr.  Andrews  to  give  an  out- 
line of  St.  Paul's  logic  in  a  short  summary  of  Christian  doctrine. 
He  afterward  said  to  one  of  his  students  that  this  discourse  was  the 
most  marvellous  opening  of  the  book  he  had  ever  heard  or  read. 


Pastorate  in  Potsdam 


91 


stirring  in  the  hearts  of  thousands,  though  they 
may  not  know  how  to  express  them,  much  less  how 
to  interpret  them,  that  I  am  confident  that  we  are 
entering  upon  a  better  era,  as  well  as  a  worse.  Men 
are  not  satisfied,  as  few  know  better  than  you,  with 
things  as  they  are,  and  the  preparation  of  the  soil  is 
just  as  necessary  as  the  sowing  of  the  seed.  That 
which  God  is  restoring  will  be  found  to  contain  in 
it  the  solution  of  these  difficulties.  In  what  precise 
way  it  is  to  be  brought  about,  I  do  not  pretend  to 
know.  I  am  satisfied  to  leave  that  with  Him  who 
always  hides  a  part  that  we  may  walk  by  faith." 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    EVANGELIST    MINISTRY  —  ITS    NATURE     AND 
DIFFICULTIES 


MR.  ANDREWS  left  Potsdam  at  the  close  of 
1856,  and  entered  upon  his  ministry  as  an 
evangelist,  in  which  he  continued  to  his 
death  in  1897 — a  period  of  forty  years. 

In  July,  1858,  he  married  Miss  Elisabeth  Byrne 
Williams,  a  resident  of  the  town  of  Wethersfield, 
adjacent  to  Hartford,  and  from  that  time  made  this 
his  home.  Here  his  three  younger  children  were 
born,  and  here  died  two  of  the  three  born  to  him  in 
Kent. 

Of  the  labors  of  Mr.  Andrews  during  this  long 
period  mention  can  be  made  only  in  outline,  with 
brief  notices  of  the  more  important  events.  But 
the  change  in  his  ministry  from  the  pastoral  to  the 
evangelistic  gives  an  opportunity  to  speak  of  the 
special  work  of  the  evangelist,  and  of  the  obstacles 
he  met  in  presenting  his  message. 

The  object  of  the  evangelist  ministry,  as  one  of 
the  four  set  in  the  Church  (Eph.  iv.  1 1),  was  to 
preach  to  those  without,  and  gather  them  into  the 

92 


The  Evangelist  Ministry  93" 

Church.  Those  believing  their  word  they  baptized, 
and  then  gave  them  over  to  the  care  of  the  pastor  ; 
and  this  continued  to  be  their  work  among  the  non- 
Christian  nations.  But  the  work  of  an  evangeHst 
sent  in  our  day  to  Christendom  is  within  the  Church, 
hke  that  of  John  the  Baptist  within  the  Jewish 
Church — a  call  to  repentance  in  order  that  a  people 
may  be  made  ready  for  the  Lord.  It  assumes  that 
the  Church  has  failed  to  fulfil  the  Divine  purpose 
in  it  —  to  go  on  unto  perfection.  Mr.  Andrews 
therefore  addressed  himself  primarily  to  those  pro- 
fessing themselves  to  be  Christians,  and  his  work 
was  to  call  all  to  repentance.  The  Church  itself 
must  be  convinced  of  its  departure  from  the  ways 
of  God,  and  of  the  loss  of  certain  ministries  and 
ordinances  necessary  for  the  perfecting  of  its  mem- 
bers. It  was  the  sins  of  the  baptized  as  such  which 
were  to  be  specially  emphasized  by  the  apostolic 
evangelists,  though  not  to  the  exclusion  of  the  sins 
of  all  men  springing  from  the  common  inheritance 
of  the  fallen  nature.  As  addressing  those  already 
made  members  of  Christ,  their  peculiar  work  was  to 
set  forth  the  relations  of  all  to  Him  as  the  living 
Head  of  the  Church,  their  unity  in  Him,  the 
purpose  of  God  in  the  Church  as  His  Body,  its 
organic  ministries  and  spiritual  endowments;  and 
to  show  how  far  through  unbelief  and  disobedience 
it  had  failed  to  fulfil  the  Divine  purpose.  If  a 
sense  of  sin  could  be  thus  awakened,  a  feeling  of 
loss,  and  a  desire  for  the  restoration  of  all  those 
ministries  and  ordinances  which  God  gave  at  the 
first  for  the  spiritual  growth  and  perfecting  of  His 
children,  the  evangelist  could  proceed  to  speak  of 


94         William  Watson  Andrews 

the  work  God  is  now  doing  as  one  of  restoration, 
and  one  to  be  accepted  by  His  people. 

The  experience  of  Mr.  Andrews  as  an  evangelist 
showed  him  very  early  that  the  number  of  those 
having  an  ear  to  hear  his  message  was  small.  The 
people  whom  he  addressed  were,  to  speak  in  a  gen- 
eral way,  of  two  classes : 

(a)  Those,  embracing  most  Protestant  denomina- 
tions, who  had  little  or  no  conception  of  the  Church 
as  an  organic  whole  —  the  Body  of  Christ  —  with  a 
definite  and  permanent  constitution.  They  knew 
nothing  of  a  unity  of  life  among  Christians  so  close 
that  if  one  member  suffered,  all  suffered  with  it. 
To  speak  to  them  of  a  common  sin  and  of  evil 
affecting  all,  was  vague,  almost  meaningless.  The 
matter  of  chief  interest  to  them  was  their  own  per- 
sonal salvation ;  and  the  truth  that  the  growth  and 
perfecting  of  the  individual  Christian  must  be  de- 
pendent upon  the  growth  and  perfecting  of  the 
Church  as  a  whole,  was  a  truth  almost  unintelligible, 
and  by  most  was  theoretically  and  practically  denied. 

To  those  in  this  position  all  questions  respecting 
the  original  constitution  of  the  Church,  its  minis- 
tries and  ordinances,  whether  now  perfect  or  imper- 
fect, had  little  interest.  They  saw  in  its  present 
divisions  and  sects  no  breach  of  unity  destructive  of 
the  Divine  purpose,  no  dishonor  to  Christ  its  Head. 
They  said,  truly  enough,  that  in  every  division  in- 
dividual salvation  was  possible;  and  many  went 
further,  and  said  that  a  unity  of  all,  such  as  was 
spoken  of  by  St.  Paul  and  the  other  Apostles,  could 
not  now  be  realized,  and  is  not  necessary.  Upon 
those  in  this  position  Mr.  Andrews'  words  had  but 


The  Evangelist  Ministry  95' 

little  effect.  Only  one  here  and  there  cared  to  hear 
him.  But  that,  on  the  other  hand,  to  evangelists 
preaching  only  personal  salvation  large  audiences 
should  gather,  was  to  be  expected.  Of  one  of 
these,  the  well-known  evangelist,  Mr.  Moody,  Mr. 
Andrews  wrote  in  a  newspaper,  asking:  "  To  what 
truth  does  Mr.  Moody  call  the  attention  of  the 
crowds  that  flock  to  hear  him  ?  "  After  mention- 
ing some  rudimental  though  essential  truths,  he 
adds:  "  But  it  is  only  a  very  small  part  of  the  Gos- 
pel which  he  preaches,  that  part  which  respects  a 
man's  own  salvation, — the  first  step,  faith  in  the 
blood  of  Christ.  But  of  that  which  comes  after- 
wards, of  the  Church  as  a  Divine  institution,  with 
ministries,  sacraments,  endowments,  and  discipline, 
he  knows  absolutely  nothing."  Whilst  giving  Mr. 
Moody  praise  for  the  measure  of  truth  he  taught, 
and  his  evident  sincerity,  Mr.  Andrews  did  not  be- 
lieve that  his  work,  though  of  benefit  to  individuals, 
could  produce  any  permanent  good  effect  upon  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  Church ;  for  it  is  a  great  error  to 
hold  that  the  Holy  Spirit  will  do  His  work  except 
through  the  ordinances  of  Christ.  His  own  example 
in  refusing  to  acknowledge  any  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity over  him,  must  tend  to  weaken  the  faith  of  men 
in  all  Divine  appointments,  and  in  the  end  to  make 
individualism  supreme  —  each  man  his  own  teacher 
and  church. 

{d)  The  second  class  of  persons  whom  Mr.  An- 
drews addressed  were  those  who  had  a  conception, 
more  or  less  clear,  of  the  Church  as  a  Divine  institu- 
tion and  capable  of  corporate  action.  To  these  he 
could   speak  of   the   sins  of   the  Church,  and   the 


96  William  Watson  Andrews 

need  of  repentance  and  return.  But  among  them 
we  must  distinguish  those  who  affirmed  that,  as  God 
had  instituted  the  Church  and  given  it  a  Divine 
organization,  it  could  not  fail  to  fulfil  its  purpose. 
This  was  the  ground  taken  by  the  Roman  Church, 
and  in  substance  also  by  the  Protestant  bishops, 
English  and  American.  All  ministries  and  ordi- 
nances that  God  desired  to  have  remain,  and  all 
needful  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  had  been 
and  were  still  in  the  Church.  Any  supposed  res- 
toration to  this  end  was,  therefore,  needless;  and  it 
would  also  impute  to  God  mutability  and  weakness. 
Any  in  our  day  claiming  an  immediate  apostolic 
commission  were,  on  this  ground,  to  be  rejected 
without  examination  of  their  claims,  as  self-deceived, 
or  as  wilful  deceivers. 

It  is  plain  that  to  those  thus  denying  the  need  of 
any  Divine  interposition,  and  affirming,  also,  that  if 
God  wishes  any  new  work  to  be  done  in  the  Church 
He  will  do  it  by  the  bishops  collectively  whom  He 
has  set  as  leaders,  or  by  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and 
not  by  any  extraordinary  delegates,  the  preaching 
of  the  revival  of  the  apostolic  ministry  was  some- 
thing more  than  false.  Some  affirmed  it  to  be  even 
blasphemous;  and  that  ministers  in  the  Church  ac- 
cepting it  deserved  immediate  expulsion.  Acting  in 
this  spirit,  the  Roman  authorities  in  South  Germany 
very  early  excommunicated  several  priests  who  had 
become  believers.  In  an  article  in  the  Church  Re- 
view (New  York,  1855)  written  by  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  bishops, 
he  says:  "  Every  one  who  admits  the  claims  of  the 
new   apostles  and  acts  on  them,  incurs  the  fearful 


The  Evangelist  Ministry  97 

guilt  of  communion  with  false  apostles,  which  is 
necessarily  being  a  partaker  with  Antichrist.  The 
ultimate,  awful  and  most  fearful,  is  before  us.  If 
a  new  apostolate  be  true,  we  are  in  a  state  of  schism 
as  deep  and  hopeless  as  can  be  imagined.  If  it  is 
false,  its  followers  are  enlisted  in  the  cause  and 
under  the  banner  of  Antichrist.     This  is  the  issue." 

The  same  writer,  in  a  letter  published  a  little 
later,  speaks  of  "  the  so-called  apostles  as  men  who, 
claiming  to  themselves  inspiration  and  miraculous 
powers,  are,  if  these  claims  are  false,  and  so  I  fully 
believe  them, either  deluded  fanatics  or  blasphemous 
deceivers.  ...  I  should  not  dare  to  recognize 
even  by  the  remotest  implication  such  arrogant  and 
fearful  claims." 

Other  Protestant  bishops  took  the  same  ground. 
God  had  set  the  bishops  to  be  the  teachers  and 
rulers  of  His  Church,  and  if  any  step  forward,  was 
to  be  taken  affecting  all  its  members,  it  must  be 
taken  by  them,  and  be  under  their  direction.  This 
applied  in  a  still  higher  degree  to  the  Roman  Bishop. 
In  making  him  the  infallible  head,  God  had  in  fact 
put  it  out  of  His  own  power  to  send  others  to  have 
authority  over  him,  and  to  repair  any  defects  or 
errors;  it  was  even  his  duty  to  reject  any  claims  to 
a  new  apostolic  commission,  because  interfering  with 
his  own  official  position. 

Thus  to  those  in  the  episcopal  office  holding  the 
impossibility  of  any  falling  away  of  the  Church,  be- 
cause Divinely  constituted,  and  denying  the  need 
of  any  call  to  repentance,  and  of  the  restoration  of 
any  ministries,  the  evangelists  addressed  themselves 
in  vain.     It  was  not  right  for  any  even  to  hear  them. 


98         William  Watson  Andrews 

or  to  examine  the  evidence  they  might  present.  It 
was  enough  for  those  under  episcopal  and  papal 
rule  to  know  that  they  were  not  recognized  by  the 
existing  authorities. 

In  addressing  the  non-episcopal  bodies,  the  evan- 
gelists met  the  same  obstacle,  if  not  in  the  same 
form  or  to  the  same  degree.  Though  these  bodies 
for  the  most  part  made  little  theoretically  of  forms 
of  Church  polity,  regarding  them  as  changeable 
and  to  be  adapted  to  the  time,  yet  practically 
each  regarded  its  own  as  so  far  of  Divine  appoint- 
ment as  to  give  to  its  members  more  of  truth  and 
grace  than  any  other;  and  in  fact  all  that  was 
needed.  They  saw,  therefore,  no  reason  for  any 
Divine  interposition ;  and  to  affirm  that  they  had 
not  all  needful  truth,  and  all  the  means  of  spiritual 
culture  and  growth  which  God  wished  them  to  have, 
was  a  serious  offense,  calling  for  rebuke,  if  not  ex- 
pulsion. 

Again,  the  almost  universal  belief  that  the  age  of 
miracles  is  past,  made  the  statements  of  the  evan- 
rgelists  respecting  the  acts  of  God  in  sending  men  in 
our  day  to  lead  His  people,  so  incredible  that  most 
had  no  ears  to  hear.  Christ,  it  was  said,  will  come 
some  day  to  judgment,  but  till  that  day  all  things 
■will  go  on  in  the  Church  in  their  present  order;  and 
the  belief  that  men  may  now  appear  with  a  Divine 
commission,  and  that  the  Spirit  may  speak  again  by 
men  in  tongues  and  prophesyings,  opens  the  door  to 
all  vagaries  and  errors,  and  is  not  for  a  moment 
to  be  admitted.  The  wise  and  prudent  will  have 
nothing  to  do  with  men  affirming  an  immediate 
Divine  mission. 


The  Evangelist  Ministry  99 

There  were  others  also  who  found  sufficient 
ground  for  the  rejection  of  the  testimony  of  the 
evangelists  in  the  fact  that  the  Apostles  do  not 
prove  their  commission  by  striking  manifestations  of 
Divine  power  which  carry  immediate  conviction  to 
all  parts  of  the  Church,  and  put  all  their  enemies  to 
silence.  It  did  not  occur  to  these  that  such  mani- 
festations would  have  in  them  no  moral  value.  If 
the  Church  had  departed  from  God's  ways,  and  had 
suffered  loss,  there  must  be  first  a  call  to  repentance, 
and  a  penitent  spirit  awakened.  Only  as  received 
by  the  penitent,  could  Apostles  do  their  work. 
Their  reception  was  therefore  a  matter  of  spiritual 
discernment ;  and  as  the  Baptist  wrought  no  miracle, 
but  addressed  himself  to  the  religious  consciousness 
of  the  few,  so  Apostles  must  first  commend  them- 
selves to  those  who  had  discernment  of  the  truth. 
If  received  and  able  to  do  their  full  work,  all  forms 
of  supernatural  manifestation  might  follow,  as  in  the 
beginning  signs  followed  them  that  believed  (Mark 
xvi.  17). 

Besides  this  positive  hostility,  based  on  principle, 
there  was  on  the  part  of  many  Christians  a  passive 
indifference  to  all  religious  questions,  and  especially 
to  anything  new.  Old  beliefs,  it  was  said,  might 
be  entitled  to  some  respect,  but  strange  novelties 
deserved  no  attention. 

Thus  on  every  side  Mr.  Andrews  found  his  way 
shut  up,  and  he  was  in  some  degree  also  limited  by 
other  considerations  in  the  presentation  of  his  mes- 
sage. It  was  the  apostolic  direction  to  the  evangel- 
ists that  their  message  should  be  given,  first  of  all, 
to  the  heads  in  the  churches;   these  being  set  by 


loo        William  Watson  Andrews 

God  in  their  places  with  authority  to  direct  and 
guide  those  under  them.  To  them,  therefore,  in 
the  towns  he  visited  he  first  appealed,  seeking  out 
those  who  had  the  religious  charge  of  the  several 
congregations  to  tell  them  of  the  nature  of  his  mes- 
sage. If  the  pulpit  were  opened  to  him,  or  any  door 
of  approach  to  the  people,  it  was  made  use  of;  if 
not  opened,  he  felt  at  liberty  to  speak  in  a  public 
hall,  or  other  place.  But  if  any  hearing  him  and 
accepting  his  message,  desired  to  come  into  the 
Apostles'  fellowship,  they  were  directed  to  inform 
their  own  pastors  before  any  decisive  step  was  taken  ; 
and  those  under  parental  care  were  to  be  subject  in 
their  action  to  those  over  them.  Nor  could  any 
teaching  be  addressed  to  children  without  the  know- 
ledge and  consent  of  their  parents. 

Besides  public  addresses,  Mr.  Andrews  made  use 
of  tracts  prepared  for  general  distribution,  and  of 
articles  in  the  newspapers,  the  last  being  chiefly  cor- 
rections of  misrepresentations;  he  made  use  also  of 
personal  conversation,  and  of  private  correspond- 
ence. He  saw  in  person  many  of  the  ministers  of 
all  religious  bodies,  of  whom  a  few  opened  to  him 
their  pulpits  or  lecture-rooms,  giving  him  full  liberty 
of  speech ;  others  limited  him  to  those  truths  which 
they  held  in  common ;  and  still  others  refused  to 
permit  him  to  speak  to  their  people  at  all.  In  most 
places  where  he  went  he  found  a  few  who  had  more 
or  less  discernment  of  the  evils  and  dangers  of  the 
present,  and  were  anxious  as  to  the  future,  and 
ready  to  hear  of  some  way  of  deliverance.  These 
listened  to  him  with  interest,  here  and  there  one 
fully  accepting  his  message.     In  the  case  of  others 


The  Evangelist  Ministry  loi 

he  was  able  to  strengthen  faith  in  "  the  things  which 
remain,  that  are  ready  to  die,"  But  by  most,  all 
that  he  said  of  the  place  of  the  Church  in  the  Divine 
purpose,  of  its  failure  to  abide  in  the  grace  of  God, 
of  the  loss  of  ministries  and  ordinances,  and  of  the 
need  of  a  Divine  interposition,  was  listened  to  with 
impatience  or  with  indifference. 

It  is  obvious  that  in  view  of  these  obstacles,  not 
to  mention  many  others  of  a  spiritual  kind,  Mr. 
Andrews'  lectures  could  produce  little  immediate 
fruit.  His  experience  wherever  he  went  was  very 
uniform — at  first  an  audience  oftentimes  large,  then 
gradually  diminishing  as  his  subject  was  more  fully 
opened  and  its  high  claims  presented,  till  the  final 
result  showed  scarce  one  in  a  hundred  who  accepted 
his  message.  But  he  was  not  discouraged,  nor  led 
to  make  that  message  more  acceptable  by  lowering 
its  claims,  and  keeping  out  of  sight  its  more  ob- 
noxious features;  for  he  was  not  responsible  for  its 
reception.  He  believed  that  the  seed  of  truth  he 
was  sowing,  however  long  buried,  would  spring  up 
and  bear  fruit  in  God's  good  time. 

To  these  adverse  influences  were  to  be  added  the 
widespread  misrepresentations  through  the  news- 
paper press,  both  religious  and  secular,  of  the  whole 
movement  which  he  represented — its  doctrines  and 
its  worship.  These  he  regarded  as  mostly  uninten- 
tional, the  result  of  an  ignorance  springing  from  in- 
difference, or  from  the  desire  on  the  part  of  many 
reporters  to  make  a  sensational  article.  But  he 
found  it  vain  to  correct  them,  for  they  continually 
reappeared,  often  in  more  misleading  forms. 

That  Mr.  Andrews  found  so  many  to  hear  him 


I02        William  Watson  Andrews 

was  due  chiefly  to  the  fact  that  he  had  so  many  per- 
sonal friends,  both  clergymen  and  laymen,  who  had 
entire  confidence  in  his  sincerity,  and  knew  him  to 
hold  firmly  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith. 
Not  a  few  were  willing  to  open  their  pulpits  to  him 
who  did  not  themselves  believe,  nor  expect  their 
people  to  believe,  his  statements  of  the  present  act- 
ings of  God  in  His  Church,  but  were  glad  to  hear  his 
expositions  of  the  common  faith.  One  of  these,  a 
well-known  Congregational  minister,  in  a  notice  in 
a   local   paper   says:    "  Mr.    Andrews  preached   in 

T last  Sabbath  two  sermons  of  great  beauty, 

purity,  and  spiritual  power.  In  the  evening  he 
dwelt  with  his  wonted  fervor  of  spirit  upon  *  The 
Marriage  of  the  Lamb, '  giving  to  believers  a  glorious 
outlook  for  the  quickening  of  their  faith,  and  com- 
fort of  their  hope."  Many  such  notices  appeared 
from  time  to  time  in  the  local  papers. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


EVANGELIST   MINISTRY — ITS  EARLY   STAGE 


IT  is  not  necessary  or  possible  to  speak  in  detail  of 
Mr.  Andrews'  evangelistic  labors,  continuing 
through  a  period  of  forty  years.  He  visited 
most  of  the  larger  cities  of  the  Eastern  and  Middle 
States,  and  some  portions  of  the  South,  preaching 
and  lecturing  as  he  had  opportunity.  He  thus  be- 
came acquainted  with  many  clergymen  of  the  various 
religious  bodies,  and  with  some  this  acquaintance 
ripened  into  friendship.  His  correspondence  was 
large,  and  from  the  letters  he  received  such  extracts 
will  be  made  as  space  permits. 

In  the  beginning  of  1857  he  delivered  a  course  of 
lectures  in  a  hall  in  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  and  preached 
several  times  for  clergymen  of  that  city.  Later  he 
lectured  in  Hartford  to  comparatively  small  audi- 
ences, and  preached  often  in  the  pulpits  opened  to 
him.  But  he  seems  at  this  period  to  have  given 
much  time  to  personal  conversation  with  clergymen 
and  others  who  showed  any  signs  of  interest  in  the 
special  topics  he  presented. 

In  September,  1858,  he  visited  Kent  with  his  wife, 
103 


I04        William  Watson  Andrews 

where  he  preached  three  sermons  on  Sunday  to 
large  audiences.  Of  this  visit  he  writes:  "  We 
dined  at  Mr.  Bordvvell's,  and  in  the  afternoon  went 
to  the  Ridge  to  a  picnic  held  partly  in  honor  of  the 
completion  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph,  and  partly 
on  our  account.  Some  sixty  or  seventy  were  pres- 
ent, and  we  spent  about  three  hours  very  pleasantly 
in  rambling  about  the  Ridge,  and  in  the  little  feast, 
which  was  followed  by  a  short  speech  from  me,  in 
which  I  reminded  them  of  the  changes  since  I  first 
knew  them  in  the  facilities  for  travel.  Then  we 
had  a  semi-weekly  mail  to  Poughkeepsie;  now  the 
cars  which  go  thundering  through  the  valley  bring 
the  city  morning  papers  in  season  for  the  dinner 
hour;  and  soon  they  may  be  able  to  read  one  day 
the  occurrences  of  the  day  before  throughout  all 
Europe.  At  the  close  it  was  voted  to  meet  again 
next  year,  on  the  1st  of  September,  and  we  were 
specially  invited  to  be  present."  At  this  time  he 
with  his  wife  visited  the  graveyard  in  Kent  where 
his  first  wife  was  buried,  taking  with  them  her  three 
children.  "  There  we  were  all  gathered  for  the  first 
time  together  around  the  grave  of  the  beloved  wife 
and  mother,  who  sleeps  near  the  home  of  our 
wedded  life,  waiting  for  the  resurrection.  The 
Lord  keep  her  in  His  peace  and  joy,  and  give  her  a 
speedy  deliverance  at  His  glorious  coming." 

The  early  part  of  1859  ^^'^^  spent  in  Norristown, 
Penn.,  but  for  the  most  part  he  was  at  home. 

The  years  1859-60  were  spent  partly  in  New 
York,  preaching  to  the  flock  there,  and  also  in 
many  churches  of  Connecticut,  by  invitation  of  their 
pastors.     On    these    latter   occasions  the  principle 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage  105 

that  guided  him  in  the  selection  of  his  topics 
was,  "  to  strengthen  the  things  that  remain  and  are 
ready  to  die,"  pointing  out  clearly  and  faithfully 
the  special  perils  of  our  time,  and  warning  all  to 
stand  steadfast  in  the  faith,  and  hope  to  the  end 
for  the  salvation  of  God. 

The  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War,  and  the  in- 
tense anxiety  it  occasioned  in  all,  made  the  whole 
period  from  i860  to  1865  one  very  unfavorable  to 
his  work. 

In  1 861  he  entered  upon  his  more  distinctively 
evangelistic  labor,  bringing  out  in  his  lectures  the 
great  departure  of  the  Church  from  God's  way, 
the  loss  suffered  in  ministries  and  ordinances,  and 
the  grace  of  God  in  their  restoration,  and  this  res- 
toration as  a  preparation  for  the  Lord's  return.  A 
course  of  lectures  was  delivered  in  New  Haven,  at 
which  he  had  large  audiences,  but  very  little  fruit. 
At  this  time  he  renewed  his  acquaintance  with 
many  of  the  friends  of  his  college  days. 

At  this  time  he  lectured  also  in  Boston,  and  gave 
some  Bible  readings  in  private  houses,  and  found  a 
few  who  accepted  his  teachings  and  who  were  the 
nucleus  of  a  church.  He  lectured  also  in  Hartford, 
and  preached  often  in  the  pulpits  of  his  brethren. 

During  his  lectures  in  Boston  (1862-63)  he  became 
acquainted  with  the  Rev.  John  Bapst,  the  rector 
of  the  Jesuit  College  in  that  city,  and  with  others  of 
its  professors.  Besides  considerable  personal  inter- 
course, he  interchanged  several  letters  with  Father 
Bapst.     In  one  of  them  Bapst  writes  (March,  1863): 

"  I  have  been  expecting  and  anxious  to  see  you.     You 


io6        William  Watson  Andrews 

are  an  earnest  thinker,  and  the  common  faith  you  have 
with  Catholics  on  many  points  of  doctrine  places  you  in 
a  position  greatly  interesting  to  us."  In  another  (May 
24th)  he  writes:  "  Your  acquaintance,  which  I  made 
about  a  year  ago,  has  been  for  me  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting events  of  my  life.  Your  conscientious  and  perse- 
vering research  of  truth,  made  with  a  logical,  clear  mind, 
I  hoped,  and  hope  yet,  will  be  rewarded  with  a  full  suc- 
cess, /.  ^.,  with  the  knowledge  of  the  whole  revealed 
truth.  You  are  already  in  possession  of  a  mass  of  frag- 
ments of  that  Divine  truth,  but  you  have  not  the  whole 
of  it,  and  you  will  never  find  it  until  you  find  first  the 
pillar  and  the  ground  of  it,  which  is  the  Church,  whom 
we  must  hear  under  pain  of  being  considered  as  heathen 
and  publicans.  No  matter  what  takes  place,  you  can 
never  become  indifferent  to  me,  for  I  cannot  believe 
that  you  will  forever  wander  from  the  Church. 
If,  with  your  vast  studies,  you  had  the  certitude,  the 
power,  and  the  conviction  that  faith  alone  can  give,  how 
efficient  an  instrument  you  would  be  in  the  hand  of 
God." 

The  points  at  issue  were  the  supremacy  of  the 
Pope  and  the  infallibility  of  the  Church,  and  at 
Father  Bapst's  request  Mr.  Andrews  read,  or  per- 
haps re-read,  the  writers  recommended  by  him, 
Bellarmin,  Suarez,  Kenrick,  and  Allies,  on  these 
points.  As  none  of  his  letters  are  at  hand,  it  is  not 
known  in  what  manner  he  treated  them ;  but  as 
holding  that  the  fourfold  ministries  of  the  Church 
— apostles,  prophets,  evangelists,  and  pastors — are 
organic  ministries,  and  as  organic  equally  perma- 
nent, he  doubtless  affirmed  that  a  bishop  could  not 
be  an  apostle,  or  rightly  fill  that  ministry.     If  the 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage  107 

apostolate  was  for  a  time  left  vacant,  still  God 
might  at  any  time  fill  it.  The  question  at  issue 
was,  therefore,  one  of  fact.  Had  God  sent  again 
Apostles  to  His  Church  ? 

This  issue  of  fact  Father  Bapst  and  those  with 
him  could  not  accept,  but  insisted  that  the  great 
point  was  the  supremacy  of  St.  Peter,  and  the 
transmission  of  all  his  prerogatives  to  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  and  his  successors.  But  it  is  evident  that 
the  ground  held  by  Mr.  Andrews  of  the  distinction 
between  the  apostolate  and  the  episcopate,  and  the 
need  of  both  these  ministries  to  the  full  order  and 
perfecting  of  the  Church,  and  therefore  to  its  infal- 
libility, was  one  that  had  been  but  little  considered 
by  the  Roman  controversialists;  and  that  the  argu- 
ments which  they  had  found  sufficient  in  their 
disputes  with  those  holding  the  supremacy  of  the 
collective  episcopate,  and  with  those  rejecting  the 
episcopate  altogether,  did  not  apply  here.  Re- 
course must  be  taken  to  the  doctrine  of  the  infalli- 
bility of  the  Church,  which,  it  was  said,  made  any 
loss  or  temporary  suspension  of  a  ministry  impos- 
sible, and  any  asserted  restoration  of  it  unworthy  of 
examination. 

Another  Roman  Catholic,  Bishop  M.  O'Connor, 
formerly  Bishop  of  Pittsburg,  and  regarded  as  "  one 
of  the  foremost  scholars  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
this  country,"  writing  from  the  Boston  College  (Jan- 
uary, 1863),  refers  to  some  conversations  he  had  had 
with  Mr.  Andrews,  and  enters  into  a  long  discussion 
of  the  interpretation  of  certain  texts  of  Scripture 
bearing  on  the  supremacy  of  St.  Peter.  He  tells 
Mr.  Andrews  that  it  is  his  first  duty  to  accept  the 


io8        William  Watson  Andrews 

infallibility  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  submit  to 
her  authority  without  questioning  her  teaching.  If 
any  pretended  new  apostles  teach  anything  that  the 
Roman  Church  has  not  taught,  they  are  thereby 
disproved  and  condemned ;  if  they  teach  only  what 
it  has  taught,  they  are  not  needed.  If  God  has  any 
work  to  be  done  in  preparation  for  the  coming  of 
His  Son,  it  will  be  done  by  the  bishops  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome. 

What  answer  Mr.  Andrews  made  to  the  bishop 
we  do  not  know,  but  we  know  that  he  rejected  both 
the  supremacy  of  St.  Peter  and  the  fact  of  the  in- 
fallibility of  the  Church  as  now  constituted.  St. 
Peter  was  one  of  the  Apostles,  all  of  whom  were 
equal  as  to  ofificial  rank  and  prerogatives.  There 
was  given  him  indeed  a  certain  primacy  not  incon- 
sistent with  this  equality,  but  no  supremacy;  and 
this  apostolic  primacy  he  could  not  transmit  to  a 
bishop.  As  to  infallibility,  the  Head  of  the  Church 
alone  is  infallible.  The  Church  is  infallible  only  if 
so  abiding  in  her  Head  that  she  is  wholly  one  with 
Him,  and  He  can  so  speak  and  act  through  her  that 
her  words  and  acts  are  His.  And  this  ideal  infal- 
libility should  be  real;  but  her  sad  history  shows 
that  she  has  been  so  separated  from  Him  through 
her  loss  of  faith  that  He  has  not  been  able  to  work 
His  perfect  work  in  her,  or  by  her  to  teach  His 
truth  without  mixture  of  her  error.  As  foretold  by 
the  Lord,  the  woman  has  mingled  the  leaven  with 
the  meal. 

The  great  argument  of  Rome,  that  we  must  pos- 
tulate infallibility  of  the  Church,  else  we  cannot 
know  that  she  teaches  the  truth,  ignores  the  fact 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage  109 

that  to  know  and  receive  spiritual  truth  there  must 
be  spiritual  discernment  and  receptivity  on  the  part 
of  the  taught.  To  accept  infallibility  as  held  by 
Rome  is  an  intellectual  act,  not  an  act  of  faith,  and 
leads  logically  to  rationalism, 

Mr.  Andrews  was  not  surprised  that  the  bishops, 
and  the  leaders  of  all  religious  bodies,  should  look 
upon  a  new  apostolate  with  great  and,  in  a  sense, 
merited  suspicion.  It  was  in  the  nature  of  the  case 
that  any  one  who  appeared  as  the  reformer  of  any 
religious  body,  whether  his  reform  were  true  or  false, 
must  count  upon  the  opposition  of  its  heads,  at  least 
in  its  beginning.  Those  filling  the  highest  offices 
of  the  Church,  and  as  they  believed  by  Divine  ap- 
pointment, could  truly  say :  We  are  the  shepherds 
of  the  flock;  we  may  not  admit  wolves  in  sheep's 
clothing;  we  must  prove  them  who  say  they  are 
sent  of  God.  But  a  special  temptation  was  here 
concealed  —  the  natural  unwillingness  of  all  in 
authority  to  see  their  own  official  position  ques- 
tioned, their  influence  and  reputation  relatively 
diminished ;  and  therefore  to  make  the  matter  one 
of  authority  only,  "  Who  gave  thee  this  author- 
ity ?  "  was  the  demand  of  the  priests  to  the  Lord, 
and  He  could  appeal  only  to  His  words  and  works. 
They  had  not  given  it  to  Him,  and  they  did  not 
recognize  any  Divine  commission.  It  was  only 
one,  like  the  Baptist,  who  discerned  this  commission, 
who  could  humble  himself  and  say:  "  He  must  in- 
crease, but  I  must  decrease." 

Another  clergyman  with  whom  he  had  at  this  time 
much  pleasant  personal  intercourse,  was  the  Rev. 
F.  D,  Huntington,  D.D,,  at  that  time  a  rector  in 


no        William  Watson  Andrews 

Boston,   now  Bishop  of  Central  New  York.     In  a 
letter  from  Dr.  Huntington  in  1863  he  says: 

"  Your  fraternal  kindness  in  renewing  our  pleasant 
intercourse  by  letter  touched  my  heart.  You  will  allow 
me  to  say,  I  hope,  that  I  am  never  with  you  without 
feeling  that  it  would  be  good  for  my  inward  life  if  the 
intercourse  could  be  more  frequent.  Society  is  plenty, 
books  are  cheap,  the  world  is  loud  and  assiduous.  But 
although  one  ought  not  to  despise  the  kind  of  instruction 
to  be  got  from  that  source, —  especially  one  whose  daily 
work  is  in  the  midst  of  the  world, — I  crave  more  earnestly 
the  influence  that  comes  of  a  calm,  thoughtful,  serene 
spirit  of  one  open  to  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord.  .  .  . 
What  an  age  we  live  in!  Perhaps  all  ages  have  seemed 
to  those  that  lived  in  them  to  be  full  of  portents  and  the 
eve  of  great  issues.  Yet  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the 
elements  of  hope,  prophecy,  and  momentous  change, 
have  before  existed  in  such  power  and  close  relations 
with  each  other  as  now.  Multitudes  see  the  phenomena, 
but  it  is  sad  that  they  see  often  only  enough  to  make 
them  refer  the  movement  to  human  agencies.  They  call 
it  '  progress,'  '  development,'  '  civilization,'  and  what 
not,  perhaps  even  '  Providence.'  " 

The  publication  of  Mrs.  0\\^\\dSi'C  's,  Life  of  Edward 
Irving  in  1862  (republished  in  New  York)  made  a 
rapid  and  great  change  in  the  popular  estimate  of 
this  remarkable  man.  The  long-continued  misrep- 
resentations of  his  teachings  and  of  his  character  had 
led  many  to  look  upon  him  as  a  charlatan,  making 
his  religious  position  a  means  of  his  own  exaltation ; 
or  as  weak  and  easily  deluded,  and  made  a  tool  of 
by  others  more  crafty ;  or  even  made  insane  by  the 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage  1 1 1 

over-rash  study  of  prophecy.'  Mrs.  Oh'phant's  nar- 
rative, and  especially  the  printing  of  his  Journal, 
swept  away  all  these  dark  clouds,  and  presented 
him  as  he  was,  not  only  the  eloquent  preacher,  but 
a  man  true  to  his  convictions  at  whatever  cost  to 
himself,  full  of  faith,  and  possessing  all  his  mental 
powers  in  full  vigor  to  the  very  end  of  his  brief  life. 
A  single  extract  from  a  review  of  Mrs.  Oliphant's 
Life  will  show  the  change  in  the  estimate  of  Irving. 
The  North  British  Review,  August,  1862,  thus  speaks 
of  him : 

'  It  will  serve  to  show  how  much  of  prejudice  and  ignorance  Mr. 
Andrews  had  to  contend  with,  and  the  odium  which  the  term 
"  Irvingism  "  brought  with  it,  if  we  quote  some  sentences  from  a 
series  of  articles  written  by  an  eminent  Presbyterian  clergyman,  and 
endorsed  as  to  their  general  scope  by  a  learned  theological  professor, 
and  published  in  a  reputable  religious  journal  (Dr.  S.  H.  Cox,  in 
New  York  Observer,  i860).  Speaking  of  Mr.  Irving,  he  says : 
"  Thinking  his  faults  great  and  terrible,  his  mischief  done  to  the 
churches  and  the  cause  of  God  great  and  infinite,  his  career  not  more 
singular  and  meteoric  than  appalling  and  contemptible,  and  his 
motives  awfully  mixed  with  arrogance,  folly,  love  of  popularity,  and 
multifarious  selfishness,  I  do  mean  to  condemn  him.  .  .  .  He  was 
plainly  a  heretic,  affirming  most  stupidly  the  sinfulness  of  Christ's 
human  nature,  and  proving  it  as  clear  as  mud  and  misery  from 
Scripture.  ...  If  pride,  disappointment,  and  intensified  study, 
or  living  remorse,  had  actually  cracked  his  knowledge-box  and  made 
him  non  compos  mentis,  and  so  irresponsible,  so  be  it.  It  was  the 
only  possible  apology  that  could  be  made  for  him." 

An  incidental  illustration  of  the  odium  which  clung  to  Mr.  Irving's 
name  for  many  years  after  his  death  may  be  seen  in  the  mention 
made  of  him  by  Archbishop  Trench  in  his  work  Notes  on  the  Parables. 
In  the  early  editions  he  introduces  an  illustration  from  Mr.  Irving  in 
this  way  :  ' '  Perhaps  I  might  mar  the  pleasure  of  some  readers  in  the 
following  noble  passage  by  saying  from  whom  it  was  drawn,"  and  so 
leaves  the  author  unmentioned.  In  the  last  edition  this  is  changed 
to  read,  "  There  is  a  noble  passage  in  the  writings  of  Edward 
Irving." 


112        William  Watson  Andrews 

"  An  intellect  of  great,  though  somewhat  unregulated, 
power;  a  scholar  of  unusual  attainments,  at  least  for 
a  Scottish  minister;  an  orator  whose  amplitude  of"" 
thought,  and  richness  of  imagery,  and  volume  and  flexi- 
bility of  utterance,  achieved  some  of  the  greatest  tri- 
umphs of  modern  eloquence;  above  all,  a  man  pure, 
true,  brave,  wholly  genuine  and  Christian.  The  main 
weakness  of  his  character  was  in  what  we  call  judgment 
or  insight.  .  .  .  But  in  his  moral  character  one 
cannot  find  anything  mean  or  base,  anything  but  what  is 
pure,  true,  and  noble.  He  was  not,  as  people  once 
thought,  puffed  up  with  windy  vanities  and  the  poor 
breath  of  popular  applause.  .  .  .  We  see  no  trace 
of  this  poor  craving  in  any  part  of  his  life.  .  .  .  He 
was  quite  willing  to  become  as  nothing,  if  only  the  world 
would  just  believe  with  him.  .  .  .  Verily  and  nobly 
a  true  servant  of  God.  ,  .  .  We  are  grateful  to  Mrs. 
Oliphant  for  this  picture  of  a  grand,  loving,  single-hearted 
man, —  a  spiritual  hero  of  the  antique  type,  v/ho  seems 
almost  out  of  place  in  this  nineteenth  century,  struggling, 
musing,  sorrowing,  and  little  comprehended  either  by 
friend  or  foe." 

But  if  Mrs.  Oliphant's  Life  made  a  great  change 
in  the  general  estimate  of  Mr.  Irving,  it  had  the 
effect — and  perhaps  was  designed  to  have — to  sep- 
arate him  from  the  movement  which  took  shape 
and  character  after  his  death  under  the  leadership 
of  others,  and  to  exalt  him  at  their  expense.  Of 
the  development  of  the  movement  in  the  Catholic 
Apostolic  congregations  Mrs.  Oliphant  declines  to 
speak,  lest,  she  says,  "  I  should  shock  the  holiest 
feelings  of  some  of  the  most  excellent  people  I 
know."     But  her  reviewers  were  not   so   reticent. 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage  113 

Almost  all,  while  eulogizing  Mr.  Irving,  speak  of 
the  origin  in  Scotland  of  the  apostolic  work,  but 
regard  all  its  supposed  supernatural  manifestations 
as  delusion,  or  fraud,  an  "  ebullition  of  excitement," 
and  its  subsequent  history  as  of  no  religious  im- 
portance. It  was  said  by  most  that  it  was  gradually 
dying  out,  and  would  soon  become  extinct.  Others 
attempted  to  explain  the  phenomena — the  spiritual 
utterances — on  natural  grounds. 

Thus  the  North  British  Reviezv,  already  quoted 
from,  says: 

"  We  do  not  believe  in  intentional  deception,  but  can 
see  how  a  little  clique  of  good  men,  living,  moving  in  a 
glowing  atmosphere  of  peculiar  opinions,  might  naturally 
delude  themselves,  and  mistake  their  own  fancies  for 
Divine  inspiration." 

The  Edinburgh  Reviezu,  October,   1862,  says: 

"  There  was  nothing  miraculous  in  the  gift  of  tongues. 
It  was  from  beginning  to  end  a  gross  delusion;  in  some 
cases  a  shallow  imposture.  .  .  .  There  is  not  a 
thread  of  reason,  of  use,  or  of  utility — in  a  word,  of 
moral  meaning,  throughout  the  whole  business." 

The  reviewers  apparently  did  not  think  it  worth 
their  while  to  ask  what,  after  a  history  of  thirty 
years,  had  come  out  of  such  delusion  and  imposture, 
such  excitement  and  confusion,  "  bedlam  and 
chaos."  They  did  not  ask  what  the  leaders  of  the 
movement  had  done,  what  doctrines  they  had 
taught,  what  worship  they  had  appointed,  what  the 
order  of  the  churches  they  had  gathered,  what  the 

8 


114        William  Watson  Andrews 

religious  life  of  their  members.  They  did  not  in- 
quire whether  the  spiritual  utterances — tongues  and 
prophesyings — had  continued,  and  were  still  to  be 
heard  in  many  congregations.  It  was  a  foregone 
conclusion  that  the  work  was  not  of  God,  but  born 
of  delusion  or  imposture;  and  the  only  blot  on  Mr. 
Irving's  reputation  was  that  he  believed  in  it.  But 
with  the  enlarged  knowledge  of  him  and  growing 
appreciation,  the  term  "  Irvingism  "  is  gradually 
losing  its  character  as  one  of  odium,  though  still 
used  by  those  who  desire  to  hide  the  true  issue. 

Mr.  Andrews  wrote  in  July  and  October,  1863, 
for  the  New  Englander,  a  quarterly  theological 
journal  published  at  New  Haven,  Conn.,  two  articles 
reviewing  Mrs.  Oliphant's  Life  of  Irving.  In  a 
prefatory  note  to  the  last  of  these,  the  editor  re- 
marks: "  In  giving  place  to  an  article  of  this  kind 
in  our  pages,  it  may  be  well  to  guard  occasional 
readers  from  imputing  an  adherence  to  the  views 
that  are  here  unfolded,  to  those  interested  in  the 
conduct  of  this  Quarterly." 

These  articles  were  soon  reprinted  in  England, 
and  a  second  reprint  has  recently  been  made.' 
Probably  so  calm  and  just  an  estimate  of  Mr.  Irving, 
both  as  to  his  theology  and  character,  can  nowhere 
else  be  found. 

In  a  letter,  April,  1864,  Dr.  Lillie  writes: 

"  I  am  not  surprised  at  the  Edinburgh  reprint  of  your 
articles  on  Irving.  I  am  only  anxious  that  you  should 
feel  this  to  be  a  hint,  and  make  far  more  steady  and 
systematic  use  of  your  pen.      It  is  long  since  I   have 

'  Edward  Irving,  a  Revierv,  D.  Hobbs  &  Co.,  Glasgow,  1S99, 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage  115 

thought  that  in  that  line  of  labor  you  have  not  done  your 
full  duty  by  your  generation." 

This  feeling  of  Dr.  LilUe  in  regard  to  a  more  fre- 
quent use  of  his  pen,  and  the  publication  of  his 
lectures  and  addresses,  was  shared  by  many  of  his 
friends,  who  admired  the  felicity  and  glow  of 
his  style,  and  the  clearness  and  force  of  the  pre- 
sentation of  his  topics.  One  ground  of  his  disin- 
clination to  print  was  to  be  found  in  the  character 
of  his  ministry.  As  an  evangelist,  he  was  called  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  all  who  would  listen  to  him ; 
and  this  was  to  be  done  by  the  living  voice,  and 
not  by  the  printed  page.  Only  as  the  Gospel  was 
spoken,  could  it  be  adapted  in  some  measure  to 
those  who  heard  it;  in  the  printed  page  it  was 
spread  before  all  without  regard  to  spiritual  discern- 
ment ;  and  thus  the  ignorant  and  incompetent  were 
led  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  highest  and  most 
sacred  truths,  to  their  own  great  injury.  Most  of 
his  sermons  and  addresses  which  were  published 
from  time  to  time  were  published  by  his  friends,  in 
several  instances  only  for  private  circulation,  he 
yielding  to  their  request ;  or  by  the  societies  before 
which  they  were  delivered.  Another  reason  why 
he  did  not  publish  more,  was  the  feeling  that  his 
ideal  was  not  reached,  that  he  could  present  his 
subject  better  after  more  study  and  labor. 

In  October,  1864,  Mr.  Andrews,  at  the  request  of 
some  ladies  of  Wethersfield,  presented  a  flag  to  the 
soldiers  of  the  Home  Guard.  In  his  address  he 
said : 

"  I  am  glad  to  bear  my  public  testimony  to  the  necessity 


ii6        William  Watson  Andrews 

and  honorableness  of  the  soldier's  calling.  War  is, 
no  doubt,  a  great  evil,  but  it  is  not  the  greatest  that  can 
befall  a  country.  National  cowardice  and  degradation 
are  more  fatal  to  its  true  prosperity  than  war.  It  is  not 
the  wealth  of  a  land,  but  the  character  of  its  people,  that 
constitutes  its  real  greatness.  A  nation  of  high-minded, 
courageous  men,  who  will  not  submit  to  injustice,  but 
will  defend  the  right,  even  at  the  peril  of  their  lives,  will 
command  the  respect  of  the  world."  After  speaking  of 
the  dangers  to  which  all  governments  are  exposed  from 
foreign  aggression  and  internal  dissensions,  and  of  the 
consequent  misery,  he  asks:  "  What  remedy  is  there 
against  these  sufferings  and  horrors,  but  a  national  life 
vigorous  enough  to  do  battle  against  all  that  would 
destroy  or  imperil  it  ?  .  .  .  It  is  to  prevent  these 
scenes  of  lawlessness  and  anarchy  that  families  are  organ- 
ized into  nations,  and  governments  formed  to  use  the 
common  strength  of  the  country  for  the  defense  of  every 
citizen.  National  institutions  are  to  be  defended  at 
every  cost,  for  without  them  there  would  be  no  peace  or 
prosperity  to  a  country.  .  .  .  This  is  the  work  to 
which  the  soldier  dedicates  himself.  He  is  the  defender 
of  his  country  against  enemies  from  within  and  without. 
He  gives  his  body  to  be  her  bulwark.  .  .  .  What 
earthly  calling  is  more  necessary  or  noble  ? 

"  In  presenting  to  you  this  flag,  let  me  also  remind 
you  that  it  is  the  flag  of  our  common  country,  the  symbol 
of  its  unity,  its  power,  its  greatness.  It  represents  an 
authority  greater  than  that  of  the  separate  States,  and 
under  whose  protection  we  have  been  safely  sheltered 
for  almost  a  century,  and  have  run  as  prosperous  a  career 
as  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any  nation.  It  is  a  sign  that 
you  fight  under  no  miserable  banner  of  State's  rights. 
What  would  Connecticut  be  without  the  Union  ?  Alone, 
she  would  be  weak,  and  to  be  weak  is  to  be  in  peril;  but 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage  1 1 7 

as  one  of  the  many  States  knit  together  by  just  laws  to 
be  one  country,  she  partakes  of  the  common  strength, 
and  is  made  illustrious  by  the  common  glory." 

The  years  1864-65  were  spent  in  evangelist  labor 
in  various  cities  east  and  west,  but  with  small  ap- 
parent results. 

In  1865  Mr.  Andrews  prepared,  at  the  request  of 
Dr.  E.  A.  Park,  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Andover,  Mass.,  editor  of  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  a 
paper  on  TJie  Organisation,  History,  and  Prin- 
ciples of  the  Catholic  Apostolic  Chnrch.  In  his  letter 
to  him  Dr.  Park  says:  "  We  design  to  insert 
a  series  of  articles,  each  article  giving  a  succinct 
statement,  but  not  a  defense,  of  the  principles 
maintained  by  each  sect  or  school  in  theology.  We 
desire  to  procure  a  statement  of  the  principles 
adopted  by  the  Catholic  Apostolic  Church,  as  it  is 
represented  by  Rev.  Edward  Irving."  This  paper 
was  published  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra  of  January, 
1866,  and  was  reprinted  in  two  or  more  editions 
here,  and  in  several  editions  in  England. 

In  April,  1866,  Mr.  Andrews  visited  England 
ofificially,  and  remained  till  August.  During  this 
visit  he  preached  in  several  of  the  Apostolic  con- 
gregations in  England  and  Scotland.  One  of  his 
sermons,  The  Divine  Remedy  for  the  Lawlessness 
of  the  Last  Days,  was  printed. 

While  absent  in  England,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Noah 
Porter,  father  of  his  friend,  died.  On  his  return 
he  wrote  a  letter  of  sympathy  to  Mrs.  Porter,  in 
which  he  says : 

"  From   my   earliest   acquaintance   with   Dr.    Porter, 


ii8        William  Watson  Andrews 

which  dates  as  far  back  as  my  college  life,  I  have  looked 
upon  him  with  veneration  as  a  model  of  a  Christian 
pastor, — so  wise,  so  gentle,  so  upright,  so  faithful.  I 
know  not  wl\ere  we  are  to  look  for  a  nobler  example  of  a 
true  shepherd,  loving  and  giving  himself  for  his  flock. 
Whenever  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  listening  to  his 
public  teachings,  I  found  them  marked  by  sobriety, 
depth  of  thought,  and  spiritual  earnestness,  and  full  of 
the  rich  lessons  of  experience.  .  .  .  What  a  conso- 
lation to  know  that  he  only  rests  for  a  little  while  from 
his  labors,  his  spirit  rejoicing  in  the  communion  of  his 
Lord,  and  of  the  blessed  saints  who  have  gone  before; 
and  that  he  will  come  again  to  receive  his  body,  full  of 
strength  for  an  immortal  service." 

Early  in  1866  Mr.  Andrews  read  a  paper  before 
the  Hartford  Fourth  Association  of  Congregational 
Ministers,  on  Dr.  Horace  Bushnell's  Vicarious 
Sacrifice.  It  was  printed  under  the  title,  Remarks 
on  Dr.  Bushneir s  "  Vicarious  Sacrifice,''  with  this 
prefatory  note: 

"  The  following  paper,  prepared  for  the  Hartford 
Fourth  Association,  and  read  before  it,  is  now  published 
at  its  request,  and  according  to  the  unanimous  desire  of 
a  large  number  of  other  clergymen  who  were  present  at 
its  meeting. 

"  C.  E.  Stowe,  Moderator. 

"  Hartford,  May  i,  1866." 

In  his  introduction  Mr.  Andrews  remarks: 

"  There  are  many  reasons  for  subjecting  this  last  work 
of  Dr.  Bushnell  to  a  rigorous  examination.  There  is  no 
more  fundamental  part  of  Christianity  than  the  doctrine 
of  the  Cross,  or  that  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God  in  the 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage  119 

nature  of  man  by  which  forgiveness  of  sin  and  peace 
with  God  were  obtained;  and  the  matured  and  final 
convictions  of  such  a  man  in  regard  to  it,  are  not  to  be 
lightly  passed  by.  And  we  are  living  at  a  time  when 
tendencies  to  false  doctrine  concerning  the  person  and 
offices  of  Christ  are  everywhere  showing  themselves,  and 
there  is  a  subtle  endeavor  to  get  rid  of  everything  which 
stands  in  the  way  of  the  independence  and  deification  of 
man — everything  which  would  bring  upon  him  the  con- 
viction of  ruin  and  helplessness,  and  constrain  him  to 
look  out  of  himself  for  salvation.  Does  Dr.  Bushnell  re- 
sist or  help  forward  this  tendency  of  the  age  ?  Does  he 
so  hold  up  the  Cross  of  Christ  as  to  honor  or  debase  it  ? 
His  remarkable  talents,  instead  of  exempting  him  from 
criticism,  are  a  reason  for  making  it  more  searching,  for 
they  enable  him  to  give  greater  seductiveness  to  error." 

Mr.  Andrews  proceeds  to  state  the  doctrine  of  the 
book,  quoting  from  it : 

"  '  Atonement  is  a  change  wrought  in  us,  a  change  by 
which  we  are  reconciled  to  God.'  'What  we  call  the 
vicarious  sacrifice  of  Christ  is  nothing  strange  as  regards 
the  principle  of  it,  no  superlative,  unexampled,  and 
therefore  unintelligible  grace.'  '  A  good  being  is  ready, 
just  according  to  his  goodness,  to  act  vicariously  in 
behalf  of  any  bad  or  miserable  being  whose  condition  he 
is  able  to  restore.'  '  The  vicarious  suffering  of  Christ 
was  in  no  way  peculiar  to  Him,  save  in  degree.'  " 

Upon  this  statement  Mr.  Andrews  remarks : 

"  The  fundamental  difference  between  the  work  of 
Christ  as  our  Redeemer  and  every  other  act  or  manifes- 
tation of  love,  is  that  He,  being  the  Son  of  God,  became 
man,  was  made  flesh,  taking  our  nature  and  coming  under 
our  liabilities.     It  has  never  been  possible  for  any  other 


I20        William  Watson  Andrews 

being  than  the  Son  of  God  to  become  the  creature  he 
wished  to  save,  and  in  that  unity  of  nature  to  take  upon 
himself  the  burden  of  that  creature's  liabilities.  Suffer- 
ing/i^r  another  is  a  very  different  thing  from  suffering  as 
07ie  7vith  him  in  the  very  essence  of  his  being.  Many 
have  died  for  those  they  loved,  but  no  one  else  ever  died  as 
the  Incarnate  One.  Christ's  death  was  vicarious  because 
it  was  endured  in  the  nature  of  man  which  He  voluntarily 
and  out  of  love  assumed,  and  on  which,  when  He  took 
it,  the  sentence  of  death  was  lying. 

' '  The  errors  which  here  disclose  themselves  grow  out 
of  the  confounding  of  the  personal  distinctions  in  God- 
head, and  failure  to  see  the  true  humanity  of  Christ." 
As  respects  Christ,  the  error  is  that  He  came  only  to 
express  or  manifest  God,  and  not  to  do  a  real  work  as 
man.  And  from  the  same  cause  —  want  of  true  appre- 
hension of  the  Lord's  humanity —  Dr.  Bushnell  virtually 

'  Dr.  Bushnell  held  in  substance  the  view  advocated  by  Rev.  F.  D. 
Maurice,  that  there  is  a  Divine  humanity  in  God,  historically  mani- 
fested in  the  person  and  earthly  life  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  view  is 
presented  very  clearly  by  Dr.  G.  A.  Gordon  in  The  Christ  of  To- 
day. "The  true  relation  of  mankind  to  the  Lord  Jesus  is  not 
grasped  until  He  is  regarded  as  the  Incarnation  of  the  Eternal 
Humanity  in  which  the  race  is  constituted.  .  .  .  The  Eternal 
ideal  humanity  and  the  historic  meet  in  the  Prophet  of  Nazareth. 
The  Eternal  thus  manifests  Himself  through  the  divinely  human 
■career,  and  after  the  history  is  made  .  .  .  the  Eternal  returns 
to  His  pre-incarnate  fulness  and  universality." 

Of  Maurice's  theology  it  was  said  by  Dr.  Martineau  :  "It  was  an 
effort  to  oppose  the  pantheistic  tendency,  and  is  itself  reached  and 
touched  by  that  tendency.  ...  It  owes  its  power  not  less  to  its  in- 
dulgence than  to  its  correction  of  the  pantheistic  tendency  of  the 
age."  Dr.  Hunger  {Horace  Bushnell,  Preacher  and  Theologian) 
says  of  Dr.  Bushnell  :  "  He  was  not  a  pantheist,  but  he  was  pan- 
theistic. .  .  .  Had  he  not  lived  in  New  England,  he  might  have 
been  a  pantheist."  The  affirmation  of  "the  development  of  the 
Divine  in  the  form  of  the  human,"  necessarily  leads  in  that  direction. 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage  121 

rejects  the  great  truth  of  His  intercession.  He  makes 
intercession  in  the  same  sense  that  the  holy  angels  do. 
Why  then  should  we  not  call  on  angels  and  the  spirits  of 
holy  men  to  pray  for  us  ?  " 

Of  the  chapter,  "  Law  before  Government,"  in 
which  it  is  said  that  '  in  the  order  of  reason  there 
was  law  before  God's  will,'  and  that  '  He  became 
a  lawgiver  only  because  He  was  already  in  the 
power  of  law,'  and  that  '  it  matters  not  whether 
we  know  of  a  God,  we  are  none  the  more  truly  under 
law  after  His  commandment  comes  than  before,' 
Mr.  Andrews  remarks  that  "  it  would  seem  to  go 
far  to  justify  those  who  substitute  the  abstract  idea 
of  Right  for  a  personal  God,  for  it  teaches  that 
creatures  may  be  perfectly  righteous,  wholly  apart 
from  obedience  to  Him."  They  may  even  keep 
*  the  impersonal  law  '  of  right  without  knowing 
that  there  is  any  God!  But  if  they  disobey  this 
law,  God,  '  being  fastened  in  profoundest  homage 
to  the  law,'  will  assume  the  charge  of  a  Ruler,  and 
will  institute  government,  that  He  may  reinforce 
the  impersonal  law,  and  repair  its  broken  sway. 
The  fall  of  man  and  his  sin  '  was  not  the  violation 
of  any  Divine  commandment,  but  of  the  impersonal 
law  or  abstract  idea  of  Right,  which  commanded 
God  equally  with  them,  .  .  .  the  ideal  law, 
with  which  God's  will  had  nothing  to  do.' 

The  question  comes,  when  was  man  placed  under 
'  instituted  law,'  or,  in  other  words,  when  did  he 
come  under  the  government  of  God  ?  His  sin,  we 
are  told,  was  not  disobedience  of  a  Divine  com- 
mandment, as  is  said  in  Genesis.     It  was,  therefore, 


122        William  Watson  Andrews 

sin  against  the  impersonal  law,  or  abstract  idea  of 
Right,  and  only  after  he  had  sinned  did  he  come 
under  personal  and  positive  law, 

'  As  the  impersonal,  everlasting  law  which  com- 
mands all  moral  beings  alike,'  is  '  an  eternal, 
necessary,  immutable  law  existing  in  logical  order 
before  God's  will,'  '  it  was  to  this  law  that  Christ, 
not    as   man,    but   as    God,    rendered    obedience.' 

This  necessarily  makes  the  Incarnation  a  phan- 
tasm. .  .  .  His  earthly  life  could  have  had  no 
reality  in  it.  .  .  .  And  with  the  Incarnation, 
the  truth  of  the  Trinity  vanishes  also. 
There  is  no  proof  of  any  personal  distinctions  and 
relationships  in  the  Godhead." 

"  We  miss  in  this  book  the  personal  God,  the  God  and 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  acting  evermore  in  the 
unconstrained  freedom  of  His  own  will.  .  .  .  In- 
stead we  have  Law  existing  (in  the  order  of  reason) 
before  God,  and  commanding  Him, —  Law  abstract,  im- 
personal, without  penalties,  and  without  a  personal  ad- 
ministrator, ruling  God  and  His  moral  creatures  alike. 
We  have  in  Christ,  not  the  Son  coming  from  the  Father's 
bosom  to  fulfil  the  purpose  of  the  Godhead's  love  by 
taking  manhood  into  personal  union  with  Himself,  and 
working  out  its  redemption  by  a  real  fulfilment  of  its 
obligations;  but  God  Himself  yielding  to  an  eternal 
necessity,  and  showing  His  own  obedience  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  right." 

Dr.  Bushnell  speaks  of  the  '  grand,  appalling 
mystery,  the  immovable  necessity  and  everlasting- 
fact,  that  goodness  in  all  moral  natures  has  a  doom 
of  bleeding  on  it,  allowing  it  to  conquer  only  as  it 
bleeds.     .     .     .     All  good  conquers  by  a  cross,  and 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage    125 

without  a  cross  it  is  nothing.  .  .  .  The  eternal 
righteousness  of  God  has  in  it  this  inherent  doom  of 
war.  It  must  suffer,  it  must  bleed,  and  only  so  can 
reign.  .  .  .  The  short  account  of  God's  great 
way  and  work  is,  that  goodness  and  right  must 
propagate  goodness  and  right,  and  must  therefore  cre- 
ate souls  capable  of  goodness  and  right ;  which  also, 
being  capable  of  badness  and  wrong,  will  infallibly 
propagate  badness  and  wrong.  And  this  is  evil, — 
evil  to  be  mastered,  cleansed,  forgiven.  Evil  there- 
fore lowers  over  the  eternal  possibilities  of  God,  and 
God  is  linked,  in  that  manner,  by  a  prior,  unalter- 
able necessity,  to  conflict  and  suffering.'  On  this 
Mr.  Andrews  remarks:  "  If  this  is  not  Manichaeism, 
it  is  very  much  like  it.  God  must  create,  and  so 
must  have  been  ever  creating;  and  as  His  moral 
creatures  ca7i  rebel,  they  certainly  will  rebel ;  and  so 
evil  must  have  been  existing  through  the  eternal 
ages ;  and  God  must  have  been  in  an  eternal  con- 
flict, and  under  the  burden  of  a  continual  cross. 
And  so  it  must  be,  as  it  would  seem,  forever." 

In  a  later  publication.  Forgiveness  and  Law,  Dr, 
Bushnell  was  thought  to  have  presented  a  partial 
modification  of  his  views;  but  it  is  said  that  he 
strenuously  denied  this. 

In  1867  Mr.  Andrews  made  extended  tours 
through  Canada,  preaching  in  the  congregations 
already  gathered  there.  After  his  return  from 
Canada,  he  preached  in  Hartford,  at  first  in  a  hall 
on  Sunday  evenings,  to  small  audiences,  and  later 
in  the  Congregational  church  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  N,  J. 
Burton.  Dr.  Burton  being  compelled  to  go  to 
Cuba  for  his  health,  left  his  pulpit  in  charge  of  Mr. 


124        William  Watson  Andrews 

Andrews,  with  the  understanding  that  in  the  morn- 
ing service  he  should  preach  on  those  truths  which 
all  held  in  common,  but  in  the  evening  on  those 
which  were  distinctive  of  his  work.  The  arrange- 
ment continued  for  nearly  two  months,  giving  him 
opportunity  to  say  many  things  in  regard  to  the 
largeness  of  the  Divine  purpose  in  redemption,  the 
headship  of  Christ  and  His  priesthood,  the  work  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  Church,  its  ordinances  and 
ministries,  and  of  Christ's  return  and  kingdom. 

In  1867  the  Rev.  William  C.  Doane,  rector  of  a 
church  in  Hartford  (now  Bishop  of  Albany),  in  a 
farewell  sermon  spoke  of  "  the  senseless  imitations 
on  the  part  of  Irvingite  and  Methodist,  by  noisy  and 
inarticulate  disorder,"  of  the  spiritual  gifts  and 
revelations  of  the  Apostolic  Church.  Mr.  Andrews 
addressed  to  Dr.  Doane  a  spirited  letter,  rejecting 
the  term  Irvingite,  in  which  he  contrasted  the  wor- 
ship as  carried  on  in  the  Episcopal  churches  with 
that  in  the  churches  under  Apostles.  He  concludes 
by  saying: 

"  I  have  not  written  this,  my  dear  Sir,  in  any  spirit  of 
fault-finding  with  the  Church  of  England  or  the  daughter 
church  in  America.  I  believe  them  both  to  be  true 
branches  of  the  One  Catholic  Church,  with  priesthood 
and  sacraments  which  have  been  handed  down  from  the 
beginning,  and  I  am  thankful  for  all  the  truth  of  doc- 
trine, and  life  of  godliness,  and  purity  of  worship  which 
are  to  be  found  within  the  Episcopal  fold.  ...  I 
have  written  these  few  pages  as  a  witness  to  a  Divine 
movement,  so  little  known  in  this  land,  in  the  hope  that 
some  who  are  sorrowing  over  the  sad  divisions  of  Chris- 
tendom will  rejoice  to  hear  that  God  has  restored  in 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage     125 

Apostles  the  true  centre  of  unity,  and  is  by  their  hands 
setting  all  things  in  order,  and  preparing  a  people  for  the 
instant  coming  of  His  Son." 

To  this  letter  Dr.  Doane  replied  in  an  irenic  spirit, 
expressing  his  high  personal  regard  for  Mr.  Andrews, 
but  taking  the  same  ground  as  the  Roman  Catholic 
clergy,  that  as  the  Church  is  now  in  its  true  and 
normal  condition  under  the  rule  of  bishops,  there  is 
no  necessity  of  any  extraordinary  Divine  interposi- 
tion ;  but  if  God  should  so  interpose,  He  would 
make  use  of  those  already  filling  the  episcopal  min- 
istry, and  not  send  others.  "  I  am  sure  that  when 
miracles  appear,  or  men  professing  to  be  called  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  it  must  be  through  or  in  accordance 
with,  and  not  against  and  outside  of,  His  appointed 
channels  of  action."  As  none  of  those  professing 
to  be  called  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  accepted  by 
Mr.  Andrews  as  apostles,  had  been  bishops,  their 
work  must,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  a  delusion, 
and  rejected  without  regard  to  its  nature  or  its 
evidence. 

In  February,  1867,  his  dear  friend.  Dr.  John  LilHe, 
died.  Mr.  Andrews  felt  his  death  keenly  as  remov- 
ing one  who  had  an  understanding  and  appreciation 
of  the  work  he  was  engaged  in,  and  great  sympathy 
with  him  in  his  peculiar  position  and  trials.  The 
prejudices  which  Dr.  Lillie  from  his  theological 
training  and  natural  temperament  had  cherished 
toward  all  that  savored  of  form  and  ritual,  were 
gradually  passing  away.  In  his  last  letter  to  Mr. 
Andrews  which  has  been  preserved  (July,  1866), 
written  about  six  months  before  his  death,  he  says: 


126        William  Watson  Andrews 

"  I  beg  to  be  remembered  in  all  Christian  affection  to 
Mr.  Pitcairn,  and  Messrs.  Armstrong  and  Woodhouse." 
(The  latter,  two  of  the  Apostles,  whom  he  had  met  in 
New  York.)  "  It  is  no  small  satisfaction  to  be  kindly  re- 
membered by  these  men.  There  is  nothing  which  has  a 
stronger  tendency  to  tempt  me  to  believe  that  you  may  be 
^7// right,  than  the  impudent,  ignorant  scurrility  of  some  of 
your  evangelical  assailants.     Write  soon  and  at  length." 

In  1868  Mr.  Andrews  visited  Maine  and  other 
parts  of  New  England,  and  preached  in  several 
cities.  Two  of  his  sermons  were  printed  in  England  : 
The  End  of  All  Things  Is  at  Hand,  and  Zions  Deso- 
lation and  Zions  Hope.  After  his  return  he  wrote 
a  series  of  articles  for  the  Christiatt  Mirror  (Port- 
land, Maine),  on  The  Types  of  Christ  in  the  Old 
Testament.  These  articles  demanded  a  knowledge 
of  the  prinjciples  of  typology  and  their  applica- 
tion, which  but  few  possessed,  and  were  so  far 
beyond  the  average  comprehension  of  their  read- 
ers that  they  were  discontinued  before  their  com- 
pletion. 

In  this  year,  worship  according  to  the  apostolic 
order  was  begun  in  a  small  hall  in  Hartford,  under 
the  charge  of  his  brother,  the  Rev.  S.  J.  Andrews. 
Here  Mr.  Andrews  often  preached.  The  number 
of  members,  very  few  at  first,  slowly  increased ;  and 
in  1896  a  building  was  erected  better  fitted  for  the 
purposes  of  preaching  and  worship. 

During  this  time  Mr.  Andrews  had  much  personal 
intercourse  with  clergymen  of  all  religious  bodies, 
some  of  whom  heard  him  gladly.  One  of  these  of 
the  Episcopal  Communion  writes  him  under  date  of 
September,  i! 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage    127 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  I  am  indebted  for  past 
instruction.  From  no  person  have  I  learned  such  im- 
portant and  rudimentary  truth  with  such  clearness  as 
from  you.  I  am  frequently  reminded  of  this  .  .  .  and 
the  desire  is  very  strong  to  refer  many  puzzling  questions 
to  one  from  whom  I  have  learned  so  much." 

Another,  a  Presbyterian  clergyman,  expressing 
his  regret  that  he  could  not  be  present  in  New  York 
at  an  apostolic  visitation,  writes: 

"  My  heart  and  my  prayers  will  be  with  you  all  that 
the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost  may  rest  richly  upon  the 
labors  of  the  evangelist,  and  upon  all  who  serve  in  the 
Catholic  Apostolic  Church  there  and  by  whom  its  testi- 
mony has  been  received." 

The  years  1 869-1 871  were  spent  in  evangelist 
work,  but  offer  nothing  calling  for  particular  remark. 
During  this  period  he  printed  nothing,  so  far  as  is 
known. 

In  1872  he  again  went  to  England  officially. 
Several  sermons  were  preached  by  him  in  England 
and  Scotland,  of  which  one  was  printed, —  Verdict 
of  the  People.  He  wrote  also  an  article  in  the 
Church  Review, — Christ  in  the  Book  of  Genesis.  We 
quote  its  opening  and  closing  sentences : 

*'  There  are  two  great  principles  to  be  kept  in  mind  in 
the  study  of  the  Old  Testament,  viz.,  that  Christ  Jesus, 
the  Incarnate  Son  of  God,  is,  as  Lord  Bacon  has  ex- 
pressed it,  '  the  great  mystery  and  perfect  centre  of  all 
God's  ways  with  His  creatures,  with  which  all  His  other 
works  do  but  seem  vapor  '  ;  and  that  to  testify  of  Him 
has  been  the  aim  of  all  revelation  from  the  beginning. 


128        William  Watson  Andrews 

.  .  .  The  deep  interest  which  must  ever  attach  itself 
to  the  Book  of  Genesis,  comes  from  there  being  in  it  the 
roots  of  all  the  greatest  truths  about  Christ,  the  germs 
and  prefigurations  of  the  ofifices  He  was  to  fulfil  in  all  the 
economy  of  redemption.  ...  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
whoever  would  understand  the  subsequent  revelations  of 
God,  and  the  history  of  His  Incarnate  Son,  must  find  the 
key  in  this  oldest  and  most  comprehensive  of  all  the 
books  of  the  Bible." 

In  1873  Mr.  Andrews  remained  near  his  home,  on 
account  of  the  lingering  illness  of  his  brother-in-law, 
the  Rev.  Charles  B.  McLean,  whom  he  greatly  hon- 
ored. He  lectured  in  several  places  in  Connecticut, 
and  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  "  The  Sec- 
ond Coming  of  the  Lord,"  in  Seminary  Hall  in 
Hartford. 

In  1874  Mr.  Andrews  visited  Canada  in  company 
with  other  ministers,  and  he  also  made  an  evangelist 
tour  in  the  South,  visiting  Washington,  Richmond, 
and  other  cities,  but  found  few  to  accept  his  mes- 
sage. An  old  schoolmate  and  friend,  pastor  of  a 
Presbyterian  church,  told  him  that  he  would  have 
invited  him  to  his  pulpit  if  he  preached  the  primi- 
tive New  England  theology  only,  but  he  disliked 
novelties.  At  this  time  he  visited  some  places  in 
the  interior  of  Virginia,  preaching  as  he  had  oppor- 
tunity, and  in  one  or  more  gave  lectures,  which 
were  well  attended.  He  went  to  Hampden-Sidney 
College,  and  had  much  conversation  with  its  profes- 
sors.    This  tour  occupied  some  three  months. 

In  November  Mr.  Andrews  gave  a  course  of  five 
lectures  in  Seminary  Hall,  Hartford,  on  "  Worship," 
which  were  reported  in  the  papers  of  the  city.     As 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage    129 

the  limits  of  this  Memorial  do  not  permit  their  inser- 
tion  in  full,  a  brief  abstract  of  them  is  given. 

Sacrifice  was  from  the  beginning  the  central  act 
of  worship,  setting  forth  symbolically  the  truth  that 
there  is  no  reconciliation  to  God  except  through  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ.  Under  the  Mosaic  dispensation 
the  earlier  and  simpler  rites  were  expanded  into  a 
majestic  system,  with  places,  times,  persons,  and 
instruments  of  Divine  service  minutely  prescribed 
by  God. 

It  is  a  common  theory  that  Christ's  coming  swept 
away  all  elaborate  ritual.  But  He  Himself  faith- 
fully adhered  to  the  ancient  system,  entering  heartily 
and  spiritually  into  every  ordinance;  and  He  on 
earth  established  no  new  system  save  by  the  institu- 
tion of  the  Eucharist.  Christian  worship  dates  from 
His  Ascension,  when,  having  by  His  death  provided 
access  for  manhood  to  the  true  Holy  of  Holies,  He 
Himself  entered  as  a  Worshipper  into  the  presence 
of  God.  He  was  now  made  the  great  High  Priest; 
and  as  such  He  has  ever  since  been  fulfilling  the 
types  of  the  Jewish  Law. 

He  sent  the  Holy  Ghost  to  form  His  Church  into 
a  "  holy  priesthood,"  to  carry  on  in  the  earth  the 
worship  which  He  renders  in  heaven.  And  all  the 
Jewish  ordinances  are  transfigured  in  the  Church, 
as  circumcision  in  baptism.  To  worship  "  in  Spirit 
and  in  truth,"  means  to  worship  in  the  full  power 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  sent  by  Him ;  and  under  forms 
which  express,  in  a  nobler  and  better  way,  what  was 
expressed  by  the  rites  of  Judaism.  The  imperfect 
type  is  now  made  the  perfect  reality. 

The  reason  why  no  form  of  worship  is  given  in 


130        William  Watson  Andrews 

the  New  Testament  is  that  it  is  laid  down  in  the 
Old  Testament.  For  eighteen  centuries  the  risen 
Christ  has  been  fulfilling  one  of  the  types  of  the 
Law  by  leading  worship  as  High  Priest.  His 
Church,  in  which  His  Holy  Spirit  dwells, — -the 
spiritual  Tabernacle, — should  show  in  all  its  worship 
the  reality  given  by  the  Old  Testament  in  shadow. 

The  Apostles  after  the  Ascension  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  Christian  worship,  and  developed  it  so  far 
as  the  condition  of  the  congregations  under  them 
permitted.  We  can  see  that  the  Eucharistic  service 
was  chief,  along  with  the  singing  of  the  Psalter,  the 
reading  of  the  Scriptures,  prayers,  and  offerings. 
The  early  Church  regarded  the  Eucharist  as  a 
sacrifice,  not  because  it  repeated,  but  because  it 
commemorated,  the  death  of  Christ.  It  was  cele- 
brated every  Lord's  day,  and  the  thanksgiving  and 
intercessions  which  were  made  in  connection  with 
it  were  most  full  and  comprehensive,  embracing 
not  only  the  living,  but  those  also  who  had  fallen 
asleep  in  Jesus. 

In  later  times  the  Church  came  into  wrong  rela- 
tions to  the  State,  and,  especially  in  the  West, 
worship  was  corrupted  by  making  the  priest  "  im- 
molate the  Lamb  of  God,"  as  if  repeating  Christ's 
sacrifice;  and  other  mediators,  disembodied  spirits, 
were  put  by  the  side  of  Christ. 

The  Reformation  was  a  noble  testimony  against 
both  these  errors.  But  Luther  swept  away  the 
sacrificial  character  of  the  Lord's  Supper;  and 
Calvin  went  farther  than  Luther  in  rejecting  the  old 
rites,  though  not  so  far  as  many  of  his  followers. 
In  England  such  wide  changes  were  avoided,  though 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage    131 

corruptions  were  weeded  out.  The  Anglican  ser- 
vices are  beautiful,  sound  in  doctrine,  and  rich  in 
treasures  of  devotion.  But  this  liturgy  has  many 
defects,  both  as  to  its  order  and  the  meagreness  of 
its  prayers;  and  is  narrow,  as  being  too  exclusively 
English.  With  the  early  Puritans,  preaching  took 
the  first  place,  worship  being  made  subordinate ; 
but  they  held  more  strongly  to  sacramental  doctrines 
than  their  successors.  The  confusion  now  seen  in 
Christian  worship,  which,  under  the  one  High  Priest 
leading  it,  should  everywhere  be  one  and  the  same, 
shows  the  altar  of  God  to  be  broken  down ;  and  His 
first  act  must  therefore  be  to  rebuild  it,  and  estab- 
lish worship  after  His  perfect  order  in  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  peculiarity  of  Christian  worship  is  not  that  it 
is  offered  in  Christ's  name,  but  that  it  continues  on 
earth  Christ's  worship  in  Heaven.  And  as  He 
worships,  not  according  to  the  letter  but  according 
to  the  spirit  of  the  Law  given  to  Moses  (Heb.  viii. 
5),  so  should  we.  And  as  there  was  one  law  of 
worship  for  all  the  twelve  tribes,  our  worship  in  all 
its  essentials  should  be  one,  with  the  Lord's  Supper 
as  central.  It  is  not  now  as  God  would  have  it,  for 
every  right-minded  Christian  should  be  able  with  a 
good  conscience  to  worship  at  every  altar  in  Chris- 
tendom, all  joining  in  the  same  prayers  and  eating 
at  the  same  table. 

Within  fifty  years  there  has  been  a  growing  desire 
to  restore  worship  to  its  true  dignity.  In  England 
the  Oxford  Movement  and  Ritualism  have  done 
much  good,  though  disfigured  by  lawlessness,  and 
sometimes  by  Roman  doctrine  about  sacrifice  and 


132        William  Watson  Andrews 

mediation.  There  has  been  also  in  our  day  a  great 
awakening  elsewhere  of  the  spirit  of  devotion.  In 
1830  and  1831,  remarkable  spiritual  activity  was 
seen  in  this  country, — for  example,  in  Yale  College. 
The  Fulton  Street  (New  York)  Prayer-Meeting  il- 
lustrates one  phase  of  the  new  zeal  for  worship,  and 
the  fresh  interest  in  hymnology  another.  These 
movements,  both  here  and  abroad,  continuing 
down  to  the  present  time,  show  an  unrest,  which, 
however,  they  cannot  satisfy,  because  partial  and 
superficial, 

A  truly  catholic  worship  cannot  be  restored  by 
Rome,  for  she  claims  infallibility,  and  can  admit  no 
defects,  nor  correct  any  mistakes ;  nor  by  the  Greek 
Church,  which  is  fettered  by  the  Sultan  and  the 
Czar;  nor  by  the  Church  of  England,  which  is  fet- 
tered by  Parliament ;  nor,  here,  by  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  which  continually  speaks  of  its 
Liturgy  as  needing  at  most  only  some  small  changes ; 
nor  by  other  Protestant  bodies  which  have  no  fixed 
forms  of  service,  and  can  exercise  no  authority,  nor 
worship  in  unison.  There  is  need  of  a  kind  of 
"  Commission  of  Worship,"  Divinely  authorized, 
which  can  embrace  all  the  divisions  of  the  Church. 
When  Elijah  rebuilt  God's  altar,  he  built  it  with 
twelve  stones,  because,  though  Israel  was  divided, 
there  were  twelve  tribes,  and  God  recognized  no 
schism.  There  is  now  One  Worshipper  who  is  not 
schismatic.  He  who  bears  on  His  breastplate  the 
names  of  all  the  tribes,  and  all  must  worship  in  and 
through  Him. 

Such  a  "  Commission  of  Worship  "  appointed  by 
Christ    actually    exists.      Its  members  were  called 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage    133 

from  among  Protestants,  for  "  infallible  "  Rome, 
denying  the  possibility  of  error,  and  consequently 
the  necessity  of  any  liturgical  change,  cannot  be 
used  in  such  a  work.  The  larger  number  were  taken 
from  the  Church  of  England,  because  she  has  best 
kept  up  connection  with  the  past;  others  came  from 
Scotch  Presbyterianism  and  English  Nonconform- 
ity,— men  free  from  disturbing  liturgical  prepos- 
sessions and  prejudices. 

To  the  men  thus  selected,  the  spiritual  meaning  of 
the  Mosaic  ritual,  and  its  significance  for  the  worship 
of  the  Christian  Church,  were  revealed  through  pro- 
phetic utterance.  The  principal  lands  of  Christen- 
dom were  visited,  their  various  rituals  studied;  and 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost  the  true  in 
them  was  separated  from  the  false,  and  a  system  of 
worship  was  established  embracing  the  good  in  all 
systems.  It  includes  the  celebration  of  the  Eucha- 
rist on  every  Lord's  day  as  the  great  central  act,  and 
Daily  Prayers  at  six  in  the  morning  and  five  in  the 
evening,  corresponding  to  the  Hebrew  daily  sacri- 
fices ;  a  harmony  of  weekly  services  not  found  else- 
where being  created  by  the  key-note  given  in  the 
weekly  Eucharist. 

Peculiar  to  this  Liturgy  are  the  confession  of  the 
sins  of  the  whole  Church  in  all  ages;  intercession 
for  all  the  Baptized  as  forming  the  one  Church; 
commemoration  of  the  departed,  the  Virgin  being 
expressly  mentioned;  thanksgiving  for  the  fruits  of 
holiness  in  all  the  saints  from  the  beginning;  and 
supplications  for  the  Lord's  return,  and  for  the 
gathering  of  all  His  people,  the  sleeping  and  the 
living,  unto  Him  in  resurrection  life. 


134        William  Watson  Andrews 

Mr.  Andrews  ended  his  lectures  by  a  quotation 
from  Milton's  Animadversions  :  "  Come  forth  out  of 
Thy  royal  Chamber,  O  Prince  of  all  the  Kings  of 
the  earth  !  Put  on  the  visible  robes  of  Thy  imperial 
majesty;  take  up  that  unlimited  sceptre  which  Thy 
Almighty  Father  hath  bequeathed  Thee ;  for  now 
the  voice  of  Thy  Bride  calls  Thee,  and  all  creatures 
sigh  to  be  renewed." 

The  Hartford  press  testified  to  the  great  interest 
awakened  by  these  lectures,  and  it  was  said  by  one 
of  the  newspapers  that  "  they  had  been  listened  to 
by  fair  audiences,  and  been  read  with  great  interest 
by  a  very  large  number  of  other  persons  unable  to 
attend  the  lectures  in  person, ' '  They  were  repeated 
in  substance  by  Mr.  Andrews  in  Philadelphia,  New 
York,  and  some  other  places ;  and  many  have  desired 
that  they  be  published. 

The  close  of  this  year  was  made  very  sorrowful  for 
Mr.  Andrews  by  the  death  of  his  eldest  daughter, 
Susan  Van  Wyck  Andrews,  who  was  born  in  Kent, 
March  19,  1837.  She  suffered  from  ill  health  for 
many  years,  and  was  disabled  from  all  active  em- 
ployments; but  she  had  strength  for  travel  and  for 
the  society  of  her  friends,  and  found  many  sources 
of  enjoyment  thus  opened  to  her.  After  a  very 
gradual  and  gentle  decline,  during  which  she  had 
great  peace  of  mind  through  her  steadfast  faith  in 
Christ's  love,  and  the  hope  of  His  glorious  coming, 
she  fell  asleep  on  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  the 
2d  of  December,  1874,  and  was  buried  at  Wethers- 
field  on  the  Saturday  following.  The  funeral  ser- 
vices were  conducted  by  her  uncle,  the  Rev.  S.  J. 


Evangelist  Ministry — Early  Stage    135 

Andrews,  and  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Davenport/  an  old  and 
much-loved  friend,  in  whose  family  she  had  often 
been  a  welcome  guest ;  and  her  body  was  committed 
to  the  earth  in  the  sure  and  certain  hope  of  a  blessed 
resurrection. 

'  As  this  book  is  passing  through  the  press,  intelligence  is  re- 
ceived of  the  death  of  Mr.  Davenport.  He  died  at  his  home 
in  Hartford,  on  February  17,  1900,  after  a  brief  illness,  at  the  age 
of  ninety-one  years  and  six  months.  He  was  a  descendant  in  the 
direct  line  from  the  Rev.  John  Davenport,  the  first  pastor  of  the 
Colony  at  New  Haven  in  1638.  He  was  educated  at  Yale  College, 
and  entered  the  Presbyterian  ministry,  in  which  he  served  for  some 
years.  But  accepting  higher  views  of  the  Church  and  its  sacraments, 
he  took  service  in  the  Episcopal  Communion.  In  1854,  becoming 
acquainted  with  the  work  carried  on  by  the  Apostles,  he  accepted  it 
as  of  God,  and  the  remainder  of  his  long  life  was  spent  in  service 
under  them — first  for  a  brief  period  as  a  pastor,  and  then  as  an 
evangelist,  in  which  he  was  raised  to  the  Episcopate.  He  was  a  man 
of  strong  religious  and  moral  convictions,  and  ready  to  follow  them 
at  any  sacrifice.  He  was  of  decided  ability,  interested  especially  in 
questions  of  philosophy,  with  an  unusual  capacity  for  abstract 
thought,  but  with  much  power  of  clear  statement,  which  made  him 
both  an  interesting  and  instructive  preacher.  He  had  read  largely 
in  the  English  theologians,  and  had  given  much  time  to  liturgical 
studies.  Being  near  neighbors  for  many  years  past,  he  and  Mr. 
Andrews  saw  much  of  each  other,  and  had  great  pleasure  in  their 
frequent  communion.  He  wrote  much  for  religious  periodicals,  and 
printed  several  pamphlets,  some  of  which  were  reprinted  abroad, — 
all  marked  by  vigor  and  clearness.  He  also  published  a  volume  on 
Christian  Unity. 


CHAPTER  IX 

EVANGELIST  MINISTRY  —  SMITH  TRIAL  —  LITURGI- 
CAL CLUB— WINDSOR  LOCKS  COUNCIL 


IN  1875  the  Rev.  Elijah  Bailey  Smith,  a  Presby- 
terian clergyman  residing  in  Connecticut,  but 
having  no  pastoral  charge,  was  arraigned  before 
the  Presbytery  of  Westchester  for  accepting  the  re- 
stored apostolate  and  taking  service  under  it.  At 
his  trial  Mr.  Andrews  was  present  as  a  witness,  and 
sustained  a  long  examination  as  to  the  faith  and 
worship  of  the  Apostolic  congregations.  The  gen- 
eral charge  brought  against  him  was  of  "  holding 
heretical  and  schismatical  doctrine."  '  Mr.  Smith, 
having  been  found  guilty  on  this  charge,  and  in 
consequence  deposed  from  the  ministry,  appealed 
to  the  General  Assembly,  as  he  had  an  acknowledged 
right  to  do ;  but  his  appeal  was  dismissed  without  a 
hearing,  thus  confirming  the  sentence  of  deposition. 

'  It  is  a  matter  of  interest  to  give  the  nineteen  specifications  of  Mr. 
Smith's  "heretical  and  schismatical  views,"  as  they  appear  in  a 
report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  General  Assembly.  Upon  all  these 
specifications  Mr.  Smith  was  found  guilty. 

1st.  The  holding  of  the  doctrine  of  the  possibility  of  the  loss  of  the 
regenerate. 

136 


Smith  Trial  137 

In  the  appeal  which  Mr.  Smith  had  prepared  he 
examined  the  several  specifications,  denying  of  some 
that  he  held  them ;  affirming  of  others,  that  they 
were  those  upon  which  the  Presbyterian  standards 
did  not  pronounce;  of  the  rest,  that  by  no  fair  con- 
struction could  they  be  made  antagonistic  to  these 
standards.     He  concluded  his  appeal  by  saying: 

"  I  am  not  schismatic,  for  I  have  never  separated  myself 
from  the  Presbyterian  Church.    .    .    .    Nor  is  the  charge 

2d.  That  the  writings  of  the  so-called  Apostles  are  of  co-ordinate 
authority  with  the  Word  of  God. 

3d.  That  Christ  assumed  the  fallen  nature  of  Adam. 

4th.  That  the  elements  in  the  Lord's  Supper  are  changed  in  and 
by  consecration. 

5th.  The  offering  of  the  same  as  an  unbloody  Sacrifice. 

6th.  That  the  Sacraments  become  effectual  by  their  own  virtue  and 
the  virtue  of  the  administrator. 

7th.   Baptismal  Regeneration. 

8th.  The  supreme  authority  and  inspiration  of  so-called  Apostles 
and  Prophets. 

9th.  Call  to  ministry  by  Prophets. 

loth.  Ordination  by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  Apostles. 

nth.  Possession  and  exercise  of  Supernatural  Gifts. 

I2th.  A  Fourfold  Ministry. 

13th.  The  adhering  to  a  form  of  worship  as  of  Divine  authority 
through  so-called  Apostles. 

14th.  Auricular  confession, 

15th.  Absolution. 

i6th.  Extreme  unction. 

17th.  Bowing  at  the  Name  of  Jesus,  vestments,  and  the  use  of  the 
sign  of  the  cross. 

i8th.  Mr.  Smith's  connecting  himself  with  a  denomination  styling 
itself  the  Catholic  Apostolic  Church. 

19th.  His  having  preached  the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Apostolic 
Church,  which  asserts  the  apostacy  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in 
the  pulpit  of  the  North  Congregational  Church  at  Enfield,  Conn., 
thereby  producing  schism  in  said  church. 


138        William  Watson  Andrews 

of  heresy  sustained,  for  on  no  one  fundamental  point 
of  doctrine  have  I  been  proved  in  error.  I  hold  every 
doctrine  which  the  orthodox  Church  in  all  ages  has  pro- 
nounced vital;  most  of  the  separate  charges  have  no 
relevancy  to  the  general  charge  of  heresy  and  schism; 
and  unless  this  be  established,  the  sentence  of  deposition 
ought  to  be  reversed. 

"  And  now,  Fathers  and  Brethren,  I  leave  myself  in 
your  hands.  I  frankly  avow  that  it  would  be  a  great 
sorrow  to  me  if  you  should  send  me  forth  branded  as  a 
heretic  and  schismatic  with  the  final  seal  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  set  on  my  deposition  from  the  Christian 
ministry.  But  I  should  sorrow  still  more  because  in  so 
doing  you  will  pronounce  judgment  on  that  work  of  God 
by  which  He  is  seeking  to  prepare  His  whole  Church  for 
that  great  event,  the  coming  of  His  Son  in  glory  and 
majesty  to  judge  the  world  in  righteousness.  Is  it 
necessary  for  you  to  pronounce  such  a  judgment  ?  Are 
you  prepared  to  say  that  this  movement,  having  its  be- 
ginning in  Presbyterian  Scotland  more  than  forty  years 
ago,  and  distinguished  by  a  catholicity  of  spirit,  and  ful- 
ness of  doctrine,  and  purity  and  majesty  of  worship,  be- 
yond the  measure  of  any  sect,  is  not  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ? 
Do  the  things  of  which  I  speak  seem  extraordi- 
nary, even  incredible  ?  So  did  all  the  great  actings  of 
God  in  the  days  when  they  took  place.  Always  has  He 
called  upon  us  to  follow  Him  by  faith.  I  can  but  speak 
the  things  which  I  have  seen  and  heard,  even  if  the  ears 
of  my  brethren  be  closed  to  my  words,  and  they  cast  me 
out  of  their  fellowship." 

;,      One  can  but  wonder  where  were  the  clear-headed 

I  theologians   who  would    not  suffer  such  a   medley 

|i  of  specifications  to  pass  unchallenged ;    still  more, 

that  among  all  the  members  of  the  Assembly  there 


Liturgical  Club  139 

was  no  one  to  give  the  advice  of  Gamaliel  when  the 
Apostles  were  brought  before  the  Jewish  Council, 
and  to  recommend  delay,  "  for  if  this  work  be  of 
men,  it  will  come  to  naught ;  but  if  it  be  of  God,  ye 
cannot  overthrow  it ;  lest  haply  ye  be  found  even  to 
fight  against  God." 

It  should,  however,  be  said  that  several  of  the 
more  learned  Presbyterian  jurists  and  divines,  in 
later  printed  articles,  declared  this  action  denying  a 
hearing  to  Mr,  Smith  to  be  illegal  and  unjust.  The 
deposition  from  the  ministry  was  warranted,  they 
said,  but  Mr.  Smith  should  have  been  heard.  It 
was  said  by  a  leading  member  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Westchester,  writing  to  Mr.  Andrews,  that  the  As- 
sembly did  not  think  the  matter  of  consequence 
enough  to  waste  time  upon  it, — the  appeal  was 
merely  the  attempt  of  an  obscure  sect  to  bring  itself 
into  notice. 

In  the  autumn  of  1875  several  clergymen  of 
Hartford  formed  an  association  for  the  study  of 
Worship,  its  principles  and  forms,  under  the  name 
of  "  The  Liturgical  Club."  This  continued  to 
meet  to  the  end  of  1888.  Among  its  members  were 
ministers  of  several  of  the  religious  bodies.  Many 
valuable  papers  were  read,  and  a  selection  from 
them  for  publication  was  thought  of,  but  never 
carried  out. 

Mr.  Andrews  was  greatly  interested  in  the  Club, 
and  always  attended  its  meetings  when  at  home, 
and  wrote  a  considerable  number  of  papers  for  it. 
One  of  its  most  valued  members,  the  Rev.  Dr.  J. 
H.  Barbour,  of  the  Berkeley  Divinity  School,  in  a 
letter  thus  writes : 


I40        William  Watson  Andrews 

"  No  one  in  the  Liturgical  Club  was  listened  to  with 
more  respect  and  pleasure  than  Mr.  Andrews,  As  I  re- 
member the  general  character  of  his  own  papers,  they 
were  well-considered,  clear,  and  suggestive.  And  as  we 
were  sure  of  his  presence  at  our  meetings,  so  were  we 
sure  of  receiving  his  remarks  and  criticisms  upon  our 
own  efforts.  Whether  favorable  or  adverse,  they  were 
always  outspoken,  and  always  generous  and  kindly  ;  he 
could  not  have  made  them  otherwise  if  he  had  tried. 
He  won  the  love  of  every  one  of  us.  And  though  per- 
haps I  could  not  recall  at  this  moment  a  single  detail,  I 
recognize  with  thankfulness  that  what  I  myself  heard 
from  him  has  had  a  permanent  influence  upon  my  own 
mind  and  way  of  thinking  ;  and  I  feel  sure  that  others 
would  say  the  same.  How  it  carries  one  back  !  Dear 
Dr.  Burton,  and  Professor  Johnson,  and  your  brother  ! 
Sit  ant  ma  mea  cum  illis  !  "  ^ 

In  1877  a  "  Statement,"  furnished  by  Mr.  An- 
drews at  the  request  of  Dr.  Schaff,  appeared  in  the 
first  volume  of  the  latter' s  great  work.  The  Creeds 

'  The  names  of  the  members  will  be  of  interest  to  some.  They 
are  given  as  they  stand  on  the  roll : 

Edwin  E.  Johnson,  Howard  Clapp, 

John  S.  Davenport,  Thomas  S.  Childs, 

Samuel  Hart,  Arthur  Mason, 

Edwin  P.  Parker,  Samuel  H.  Allen, 

Samuel  J.  Andrews,  Graham  Taylor, 

Nathaniel  J.  Burton,  John  H.  Barbour, 

Cyrus  F.  Knight,  Storrs  O.  Seymour, 

William  W.  Andrews,  George  Leon  Walker, 

John  J.  McCook,  George  Williamson  Smith, 

Joel  F.  Bingham,  Lewellyn  Pratt, 

Francis  Goodwin,  George  Von  Alstyne, 

Oliver  E.  Daggett,  J.  W.  Bradin. 
William  F.  Nichols, 


Creeds  of  Christendom  141 

of  Christendom.  Under  the  title,  "  The  Cathoh'c 
Apostolic  Church  (called  Irvingites),"  Dr.  Schaff 
gives  an  account  of  Edward  Irving,  and  of  the  com- 
munion to  which  his  name  has  been,  improperly, 
attached.  Of  the  latter,  he  said:  "  It  is  one  of  the 
unsolved  enigmas  of  Church  History:  it  combines 
a  high  order  of  piety  and  humility  of  individual 
members  with  astounding  assumptions."  Its  mem- 
bers are  described  as  "  upon  the  whole  the  highest 
of  High  Churchmen,"  yet  they  "  are  unquestionably 
Protestant,  and  accept  the  positive  results  of  the 
Reformation.  .  .  .  They  manifest  a  catholic 
spirit,  and  sustain,  as  individuals,  fraternal  relations 
with  members  of  other  denominations.  .  .  .  The 
Irvingite  movement  has  directed  the  attention  of 
many  serious  minds  to  a  deeper  study  of  the  super- 
natural order  and  outfit  of  the  Apostolic  Church, 
the  divisions  and  reunion  of  Christendom,  and  the 
eschatological  questions  connected  with  the  Second 
Advent."  A  "  fuller  inside  account  "  follows  from 
the  pen  of  Mr.  Andrews,  of  whom  Dr.  Schaff  writes 
that  he  "  is  highly  esteemed  by  all  who  know  him 
as  a  Christian  gentleman  and  scholar. ' '  His  ' '  State- 
ment," printed  in  smaller  type,  occupies  about  half 
the  ten  or  eleven  pages  devoted  to  the  subject. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  in  the  case  of  the  Catho- 
lic Apostolic  Church,  and  in  this  case  alone,  no 
dogmatic  formula  appears, — evidently  because 
only  here  have  the  creeds  of  the  Church  uni- 
versal been  thought  to  be  a  sufficient  statement  of 
doctrine. 

In  an  article  in  a  newspaper  Mr.  Andrews  wrote 
what  bears  on  this  point : 


142        William  Watson  Andrews 

"  We  have  no  such  minute  and  elaborate  statements 
of  doctrine  as  the  Augsburg  Confession  (Lutheran),  the 
Westminster  Larger  Catechism  (Calvinistic),  and  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England.  Candi- 
dates are  received  by  baptism  on  giving  their  adhesion 
to  the  Apostles'  Creed,  as  a  sufficient  summary  of  the 
Christian  Faith;  and  the  others  are  used  in  acts  of  wor- 
ship, and  for  the  purposes  of  devotion,  rather  than  as 
problems  for  the  intellect  to  explore. 

"  We  look  upon  ourselves  not  as  the  Church,  but  as  a 
small  part  of  the  one  flock  of  Christ,  to  all  of  whom  the 
name  '  Catholic  Apostolic  '  belongs,  equally  with  our- 
selves. As  a  body  we  have  no  other  Creeds  than,  first, 
the  Apostles',  which  is  used  in  the  daily  Morning  and 
Evening  Service;  secondly,  the  Nicene,  which  is  said  or 
sung  every  Sunday  in  the  Holy  Eucharist;  and  thirdly, 
the  Athanasian,  which  is  used  four  times  in  the  year,  at 
the  great  festivals  of  Christmas,  Easter,  Pentecost,  and 
All  Saints." 

The  years  1876-77  offer  nothing  distinctive  as 
regards  his  evangelistic  labors.  He  continued  his 
work  of  preaching  in  several  cities,  both  in  the  East 
and  in  Ohio,  and  in  connection  with  an  English 
deputation  visited  the  churches  in  Canada. 

In  1878  Mr.  Andrews  visited  Ohio  again,  preach- 
ing in  some  of  its  larger  cities  and  towns  as  he  had 
opportunity.  Of  this  work  he  writes:  "  This  has 
been  one  of  the  pleasantest  and  most  profitable 
evangelist  trips  I  ever  took,  and  I  feel  a  strong  con- 
fidence that  much  fruit  will  come  from  it.  I  never 
was  listened  to  by  greater  numbers,  nor  with  more 
apparent  interest."  He  also  lectured  in  Hartford 
and  in  other  places  in  Connecticut. 


Death  of  Dr.  Reid  143 

In  this  year  he  had  a  brief  and  friendly  newspaper 
discussion  with  Professor  Fisher  of  Yale  College,  as 
to  the  belief  of  the  early  fathers  in  regard  to  the 
Millennium.  In  this  discussion,  as  generally  in  dis- 
cussions respecting  the  beliefs  of  the  early  fathers,  no 
definite  conclusion  was  reached,  because  of  the 
ambiguities  of  patristic  language  which  permit  va- 
rious interpretations  according  to  the  mind  of  the 
interpreter.  The  writings  of  the  fathers  of  the 
times  succeeding  the  Apostles,  show  the  uncertainty 
and  confusion  which  generally  prevailed  in  regard  to 
polity,  and  in  a  lesser  degree  to  doctrine,  and  which 
make  their  writings  like  a  great  library  made  up  of 
the  legal  reports  of  many  diverse  courts,  in  which  the 
opposing  lawyers  may  find  conflicting  authorities 
almost  without  end. 

In  November  of  this  year,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Adam 
Reid  died,  and  at  his  burial  Mr.  Andrews  made  a 
short  address,  from  which  we  give  some  extracts. 

"  From  the  time  of  his  pastorate  at  Salisbury,  during 
the  twelve  years  of  my  residence  at  Kent,  we  saw  a  great 
deal  of  each  other,  exchanging  pulpits,  laboring  together 
in  seasons  of  unwonted  religious  awakening,  and  meeting 
frequently  at  the  customary  gatherings  of  ministers. 
Dr.  Reid  was  truly  a  pulpit  orator,  and  yet 
utterly  free  from  the  pretense  and  affectations  which 
sometimes  disfigure  the  pulpit.  He  spoke  as  one  over- 
mastered by  the  truth  he  was  setting  forth,  and  thinking 
not  of  himself  but  of  the  message  he  was  bearing.  He 
had  the  power  of  clothing  the  simplest  truths  in  forms  of 
beauty  and  majesty,  and  his  delivery  was  singularly  im- 
pressive from  the  deep  earnestness  which  characterized 
it.     .     .     .     The  resurrection  was  especially  dear  to  him, 


144        William  Watson  Andrews 

and  never,  perhaps,  was  his  eloquence  of  a  higher  strain 
than  when  discoursing  of  the  glorious  victory  over  the 
grave  awaiting  those  who  sleep  in  Jesus.  .  .  .  He 
has  fallen  asleep  while  the  Lord  still  delays  His  coming, 
and  the  world  is  full  of  unrest  and  anxious  forebodings; 
but  he  rests  with  the  great  company  of  the  blessed  of  all 
generations,  in  the  joyful  hope  of  the  first  resurrection. 
Rest  thee,  my  brother,  in  the  peace  into  which  thou  hast 
entered,  till  the  day  of  thy  triumph  shall  come.  Thou 
hast  gone  to  thy  grave  like  a  shock  of  corn  fully  ripe, 
and  sweet  is  thy  repose  in  the  bosom  of  thy  Lord.  But 
death  shall  not  hold  thee  forever.  Thy  noble  powers 
shall  have  widest  range  in  the  immortal  and  incorruptible 
body,  and  thou  shalt  come  forth  in  thy  Lord's  beauty 
and  strength,  to  reign  with  Him  over  His  redeemed 
creation." 

In  February,  1878,  Mr.  Andrews  lectured  on 
Worship,  in  Philadelphia.  Of  these  lectures  one 
who  was  in  a  position  to  speak,  says : 

"  The  lectures  on  Worship  were  attended  by  a  large 
number  of  ministers  of  various  denominations,  and  he 
presented  his  subject  with  such  fulness  of  apprehension 
and  delight  in  his  theme  that  the  interest,  which  was  large 
at  the  beginning,  increased  until  the  close  of  the  course. 
They  were  remembered  and  spoken  of  years  afterward." 

He  visited  also  at  this  time  Ohio  and  Kentucky, 
and  spent  some  time  at  Berea,  where  was  a  school 
for  the  higher  education  of  white  and  colored  youth. 
Of  this  visit  to  Berea  College,  Ky.,  one  who  was  a 
member  of  the  faculty  at  that  time  says : 

"  I  remember  very  distinctly  his  visit  and  his  preach- 
ing in  the  College  chapel,  and  the  Bible  Readings  he 


Visit  to  Kentucky  145 

gave.  I  think  never  before  had  there  been  in  Berea 
such  a  full  and  profound  presentation  of  Christ  as 
Saviour,  the  Receiver  and  Giver  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
as  Lord  and  King.  Professors  and  students  were  alike 
struck  with  his  marvellous  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  the  clearness  with  which  he  brought  out  the  meaning 
of  passages  which  before  had  not  been  specially  luminous. 
In  his  Bible  Readings  he  took  up  a  theme  and  brought 
light  to  bear  upon  it  from  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
till  it  became  a  living  truth.  Under  his  handling  old 
truths  became  fresh  and  stimulating,  and  full  of  new 
meaning. 

"  In  his  intercourse  with  those  connected  with  the 
College,  his  superior  literary  taste  became  so  apparent 
that  he  was  asked  to  give  a  lecture  on  Shakespeare.  He 
declined  to  give  a  lecture,  but  consented  to  give  a  talk 
on  the  great  poet.  In  one  of  the  largest  halls  of  the 
College,  he  sat  in  his  chair,  with  his  Shakespeare  in  his 
hand,  reading  occasionally  extracts,  and  spoke  of  the 
Elizabethan  age  and  the  great  eras  of  literature  and  art, 
and  of  the  peculiarities  and  universality  of  the  genius  of 
the  bard  of  Avon,  in  a  way  which  held  professors  and 
students  spellbound. 

"  His  personality  was  very  attractive  to  all  he  met  in 
Kentucky,  to  the  plain  people  as  well  as  to  the  cultured. 
His  whole  nature  seemed  full  of  sweet  reasonableness, 
and  in  him  was  a  mingling  of  gentleness  and  strength 
which  drew  to  him  all  classes.  After  he  left  Berea,  a 
lady  of  culture  said  that  of  all  the  noted  men  who  had 
visited  the  place,  no  other  ever  left  behind  him  the  im- 
pression of  such  superior  wisdom  and  Christlikeness." 

In  1879  h^  visited  Vermont,  meeting  many  min- 
isters of  various  bodies,  and  holding  Bible  Readings 
at  private  houses.     He  found  many  willing  to  listen, 


146        William  Watson  Andrews 

and  was  in  general  kindly  received.  He  went  again 
to  Philadelphia,  where  he  lectured  and  preached  for 
a  short  time.  Most  of  his  later  work  was  done  in 
Connecticut. 

In  this  year  the  wife  of  his  friend  Atwater  died. 
As  showing  the  warm  affection  between  Mr.  An- 
drews and  Dr.  Atwater,  and  the  way  in  which  both 
looked  forward  to  the  resurrection  life,  the  following 
extract  is  given  from  a  letter  written  to  Mr.  Andrews 
in  response  to  one  of  condolence  from  him  after 
Mrs.  Atwater's  death: 

"  Your  letter  revives  early  and  precious  memories.  I 
can  hardly  realize  that  it  is  more  than  half  a  century 
since  we  first  met.  I  recall  our  youthful  friendship  and 
love  for  each  other  and  those  still  dearer  to  each  of  us, 
since  taken  from  us.  .  .  .  In  our  later  mutual  visits, 
how  much  of  genial  sympathy,  mutual  quickening,  and 
generous  aspirations  were  rekindled.  I  thank  you  much 
for  your  letter  of  Christian  friendship  and  sympathy, 
which  greatly  refreshed  me  in  my  sad  bereavement.  It 
is  a  matter  of  constant  gratitude  and  comfort  that  I  sor- 
row not  as  those  without  hope,  but  can  look  forward 
to  that  resurrection  life  in  which  our  bodies,  however 
wearied,  wasted,  and  agonized  here,  shall  be  like  unto 
Christ's  glorious  body." 

;  '      In  this  year  Mr.  Andrews  prepared  a  paper  on 
}[  Garrison  and  Abolition,  which  was  printed  in  the 
(i  Hartford  Courant  (June  2d).     In  this  he  speaks  of 
■  the  failure  of  Christians  in  the  Slave  States  to  take 
Scriptural  ground  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  es- 
pecially as   regards  the  marriage  of  the  slaves,   as 
one   of  the  saddest  instances  of  the  bondage  of 


Position  on  Slavery  147 

spiritual  forces  to  the  debasing  influences  of  politics 
and  trade." 

"  The  first  duty  to  be  laid  on  the  consciences  of  the 
slaveholders,  was  the  recognition  of  the  rights  of  the 
family,  the  primal  and  most  fundamental  institution  of 
society.  They  were  bound  to  give  to  husbands  and 
wives,  to  parents  and  children,  the  liberty  of  forming 
permanent  households.  The  breaking  up  of  families  by 
sale,  and  the  compelling  of  men  and  women  to  form  new 
marriage  ties  while  the  old  ones  were  still  unbroken  in 
the  sight  of  God,  was  a  crime  abhorrent  to  every  prin- 
ciple of  Christianity.  The  Church  should  have  said  to 
the  State:  'You  shall  not  treat  the  ordinance  of  mar- 
riage as  a  nullity.  .  .  .  You  shall  not  deal  so  un- 
righteously and  cruelly  with  the  members  of  Christ's 
flock,  whom  I  have  baptized  into  His  Name,  and  fed  at 
His  table.  If  you  will  strike  at  them,  it  shall  be  through 
my  heart.'  " 

Mr.  Andrews  believed  that  if  the  Southern 
churches  had  obeyed  the  law  of  God  on  this  point, 
"  slavery  would  have  died  a  speedy  death." 

"  It  never  could  have  perpetuated  itself  but  for  the 
sale  of  men  and  women  and  children.  Its  fangs  would 
have  been  plucked  out  if  the  sanctity  of  family  life  had 
been  guarded.  .  .  .  Had  Mr.  Garrison  planted  him- 
self squarely  on  the  principle  of  the  sacredness  of  Divine 
ordinances,  he  would  have  carried  the  conscience  of  the 
country  along  with  him.  .  .  .  But  in  aiming  his 
blow  at  slavery,  he  really  struck  at  the  root  of  all  sub- 
ordination in  human  relationships,  and  fostered  that 
spirit  of  self-will  which  is  incompatible  with  all  govern- 
ment. He  reviled  with  bitterness  whatever  stood  in  his 
way  in  Church  or  State.     .     .     .     Mr.    Garrison,  and 


148        William  Watson  Andrews 

his  eloquent  eulogist  Wendell  Phillips,  have  not  been 
builders,  but  destroyers.  If  they  have  helped  to  destroy 
a  great  system  of  injustice,  it  has  been  on  principles  and 
by  methods  which  have  in  them  the  seeds  of  infinite 
harm.  The  moral  and  social  condition  of  the  country 
in  spite  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  is  far  more  diseased 
and  perilous  than  when  he  began  his  career  half  a  cen- 
tury ago, — not  to  say  that  the  problems  of  emancipation 
are  as  menacing  as  ever;  and  to  these  are  to  be  added 
the  problems  which  socialism  and  communism  present, — 
all  pointing  to  a  time  in  which  all  rights  of  property  and 
all  legitimate  authority  will  be  trampled  under  the  feet 
of  a  lawless  populace  led  by  brutal  demagogues  and 
philosophical  doctrinaires." 

In  March,  1880,  a  Council  of  Congregational 
ministers  and  delegates  was  held  at  Windsor  Locks, 
near  Hartford,  to  consider  the  position  of  the  Rev. 
Samuel  H.  Allen,  the  former  pastor  of  the  Congre- 
gational church  there,  who  had  taken  service  under 
the  Apostles,  and  of  some  others  believing  with 
him.  After  hearing  Mr.  Allen,  and  after  much  dis- 
cussion, the  Council  advised  that  "  while  entertain- 
ing a  sincere  respect  for  the  Christian  character  of 
the  representatives  of  the  so-called  Catholic  Apos- 
tolic Church  whom  we  have  known,  .  .  .  yet 
we  cannot  but  regret  the  adoption  of  the  relations 
and  responsibilities  of  that  organization  as  almost 
necessarily  of  a  divisive  character,  and  tending  to 
schism,  and  therefore  as  justifying  the  church, 
should  it  in  the  exercise  of  a  kindly  discretion  deem 
it  wise  to  do  so,  in  withdrawing  its  watch  and  care, 
and  feeling  itself  discharged  of  future  responsibility 
for  such  members," 


Windsor  Locks  Council  149 

The  editor  of  the  Congregational  organ  printed  at 
Boston,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Council,  was  not 
satisfied  with  this  mild  expression  of  opinion,  and 
denounced  in  his  paper  those  accepting  the  Lord's 
work  as  "  covenant-breakers,"  and  their  adhesion 
to  it  a  kind  of  "  spiritual  adultery,  quite  as  deserv- 
ing of  censure  and  discipline  as  more  gross  and  com- 
mon offenses.  .  .  .  The  so-called  Catholic  Apostolic 
Church  is  so  founded  upon  misrepresentation  of  the 
Scriptures,  so  furthered  by  spiritual  credulity,  and 
so  issues  in  spiritual  conceit  and  dilettanteism,  as 
not  to  deserve  the  confidence  and  should  not  receive 
the  fellowship  of  the  Evangelical  churches." 

To  this  article  Mr.  Andrews  wrote  a  reply  correct- 
ing some  misstatements,  but  his  article  was  refused 
insertion.  Another  Congregational  clergyman,  hav- 
ing a  pastoral  charge  in  Ohio,  and  not  connected 
with  the  Catholic  Apostolic  Church,  but  acquainted 
with  its  history  and  principles,  also  wrote  an  article, 
and  this  was  refused ;  but  it  was  printed  later  in  a 
secular  newspaper.     In  this  he  says : 

"The  Congregationalist  calls  these  adherents  of  the 
movement  'covenant-breakers.'  Surely  their  covenant 
with  a  particular  church  cannot  have  any  force  to  invali- 
date their  covenant  with  Christ  in  the  universal  Church. 
The  recognition  of  later  and  fuller  workings  of  Christ 
does  not  put  dishonor  upon  the  earlier  ones,  .  .  , 
We  may  allow,  I  hope,  without  mortal  sin,  that  Congre- 
gationalism is  not  the  ultimate  form  of  Christianity." 
Speaking  of  the  religious  movement  they  condemned,  he 
says:  "It  is  walled  in  by  a  thousand  impediments  from 
entering  fully  into  the  circulation  of  the  Church.  But 
within  that  wall  exists  a  singular  depth  and  purity  of 


I50        William  Watson  Andrews 

Christian  devotion,  a  singular  justness  and  balance  of 
Christian  doctrine  and  Christian  morality,  a  singular 
comprehension  and  appreciation  of  the  possibilities  and 
dangers,  of  the  faults  and  excellences,  of  the  scattered 
fragments  of  the  Church  of  God." 

"  When  this  work  began,  the  Bishop  of  London,  I  be- 
lieve, made  short  work  with  it.  '  Such  things,'  he  said, 
'  cannot  be  allowed  in  the  churches  of  my  diocese. '  He 
thought  it  unnecessary  to  inquire  whether  it  was  of  God 
or  not.  The  Holy  Ghost  had  His  appropriate  forms  of 
operation  already  appointed  Him.  If  He  could  not  con- 
tent Himself  within  them.  He  must  find  some  other 
channel  than  the  Church.  I  know  that  this  is  blasphemy, 
but  the  blasphemy  is  not  mine.  Your  own  position  (as 
a  Congregationalist)  I  understand  to  be  substantially 
this,  that  the  very  fact  that  the  Catholic  Apostolic 
Church  claims  to  be  a  more  comprehensive  type  of  the 
Church  than  Congregationalism,  ought  to  condemn,  as 
unqualified  to  remain  within  the  limits  of  Congrega- 
tionalism, any  one,  layman  or  minister,  who  accepts  it 
for  what  it  lays  claim  to  be." 

During  the  year  1880  another  great  sorrow  befell 
Mr.  Andrews  in  the  loss  of  his  second  son,  James 
Watson,  the  youngest  child  of  his  first  wife,  who 
died  on  the  21st  of  September,  while  visiting  his 
father  at  Wethersfield.  He  was  a  man  of  affection- 
ate and  most  generous  nature,  with  much  aptitude 
for  business,  but  had  been  for  several  years  rendered 
inactive  by  ill  health.  He  was  a  layman  in  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

Mr.  Andrews  preached  and  lectured  in  Philadel- 
phia in  the  years  1881,  1882,  and  1883.  He  evi- 
dently took  much  pleasure  in  the  reception  which 


Visits  to  England  151 

his  teaching  met  with  in  this  city.  He  writes: 
"  This  closes  my  evangehst  labor  at  this  time,  and 
on  looking  back  I  feel  great  thankfulness  that  I  have 
had  so  many  opportunities,  public  and  private,  of 
making  known  the  truth,  and  that  so  many  clergy- 
men and  others  have  given  attentive  ear." 

On  the  14th  of  May,  1881,  he  sailed  for  England, 
returning  in  August.  Of  this  visit  he  writes:  "It  has 
been  the  most  delightful  and  profitable  visit  I  have 
ever  made  in  England.  Mercy  has  crowned  every 
moment,  by  sea  and  by  land."  Immediately  after 
his  return  he  spent  ten  days  in  his  old  parish,  Kent, 
visiting  members  of  his  former  flock  and  preaching. 
Toward  the  end  of  the  year  he  went  to  New  York 
and  to  Princeton,  New  Jersey,  where  his  classmate 
and  friend,  Dr.  Atwater,  was  still  living.  This 
visit,  as  letters  show,  was  one  of  great  enjoyment 
to  both  of  them. 

In  1882,  after  lecturing  again  in  Philadelphia,  Mr. 
Andrews  went  to  England  in  May,  returning  in 
August.  While  in  Great  Britain  he  preached  on 
various  occasions,  and  a  sermon  on  The  Glorious 
Ascensioti  of  Our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  was 
printed  in  Edinburgh. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  1882  President  Porter 
published  a  volume  of  essays  and  lectures,  under  the 
title  Science  aftd  Sentiment,  and  with  the  following 
dedication  :  "  This  volume  is  Dedicated  to  the  Rev. 
William  Watson  Andrews,  and  Professor  Lyman 
Hotchkiss  Atwater,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Companions  of 
the  Author's  earliest  Philosophical  Studies,  and 
Friends  of  His  Life." 


CHAPTER  X 

DEATH  OF  DR.  ATWATER — SICKNESS  IN  ENGLAND- 
THE    OLD   CHRISTIANITY 


IN  1883  Mr.  Andrews  visited  Philadelphia,  and 
while  there  his  classmate  and  old  friend  Dr. 
Atwater  died,  in  February,  at  Princeton.  He 
wrote  a  notice  of  Dr.  Atwater  in  a  newspaper,  from 
which  we  make  an  extract.  After  speaking  of  the 
address  of  President  Porter,  made  at  his  funeral,  as 
"  a  beautiful  tribute  to  the  intellectual  and  moral 
worth  of  his  lifelong  friend,"  and  of  other  addresses 
full  of  well-deserved  eulogy,  Mr.  Andrews  says: 

"  It  was  grateful  to  me  as  a  New  Englander  and  a  son 
of  Yale,  and  a  personal  friend  of  Dr.  Atwater  for  more 
than  half  a  century,  to  hear  those  high  words  of  praise. 
I  can  add  my  own  testimony  to  them,  for  the  longer  I 
have  known  him,  and  the  more  intimate  my  intercourse 
with  him  the  last  few  years,  the  more  I  have  loved  him 
for  his  generous  spirit,  and  admired  the  breadth  and  force 
of  his  intellect.  Physically  and  mentally,  and  in  the 
affections  of  his  nature,  he  was  cast  in  a  large  mould. 
The  men  of  his  time  are  fast  passing  away,  and 
the  controversies  which  rent  New  England  one  or  two 

152 


Illness  in  England  153 

generations  ago  are  almost  forgotten.  And  I  am  glad 
to  pay  this  little  tribute  to  one  whose  services  in  the  cause 
of  Christian  education  and  of  political  morality  are  held 
in  the  highest  honor  by  those  who  most  fully  knew 
them." 

On  the  5th  of  May  he  sailed  for  England,  and 
soon  after  his  arrival  was  seized  with  an  alarming 
attack  of  typhoid  pneumonia.  This  was  followed 
by  indications  of  a  feeble  action  of  the  heart.  Dur- 
ing the  crisis  of  his  sickness  two  trained  nurses  were 
in  attendance,  one  of  them  for  a  much  longer  period. 
About  the  middle  of  July  his  eldest  son,  the  Rev. 
William  G.  Andrews,  joined  him  at  Albury.  For  a 
time  he  was  at  The  Grange,  the  residence  of  his 
friend  Mr.  Woodhouse,  but  was  taken  to  a  furnished 
house  on  Albury  Heath,  in  which  a  countrywoman. 
Miss  Martha  S.  Dunham,  of  Hartford,  then  residing 
in  London,  rendered  all  possible  kindness.  Miss 
Dunham,  with  rare  self-sacrifice,  gave  up  a  pleasure 
trip  to  Scotland  for  the  sake  of  ministering  to  one 
whom  she  revered  as  a  spiritual  guide  and  loved  as 
a  dear  friend.* 

His  son,  writing  of  the  kindness  shown  to  his 
father  during  his  sickness,  says : 

"  He  was  treated  throughout  as  having  fallen  ill  in  the 
service  of  the  Church,  and  as  entitled  to  receive  from  it 

'  Miss  Dunham  died  in  England,  and  was  buried  there.  She  was 
one  of  the  first  in  Hartford  to  believe  in  the  Lord's  work  of  restora- 
tion, and  was  most  true  and  faithful  to  her  convictions,  at  whatever 
cost  to  herself.  We  may  pray  for  her  the  prayer  she  so  often  made 
for  others,  "  May  she  rest  in  the  peace  of  God,  and  awake  to  a  joyful 
resurrection." 

( 


154        William  Watson  Andrews 

whatever  his  condition  required,  including  my  own  pres- 
ence with  him.  He  had  every  possible  evidence  of  sympa- 
thy and  good  will  from  individuals.  Besides  the  peculiar 
obligation  under  which  he  lay  to  Mr.  and  Miss  Wood- 
house,  many  others  showed  similar  interest  and  regard. 
My  father  gradually  grew  stronger,  and  was  able  to  leave 
Albury  on  the  5th  of  September  for  Liverpool.  And  here 
the  proofs  of  the  affection  he  had  inspired  were  renewed. 
The  Angel  of  the  Liverpool  church,  Mr.  Gillilan,  and  his 
wife,  gave  us  a  true  Irish  welcome,  and  made  their  house 
in  every  sense  a  home  to  us.  And  Mr.  Pitcairn,  the  Angel 
of  the  church  at  Edinburgh,  made  the  journey  to  Liver- 
pool— no  slight  matter  for  one  of  his  years  —  to  see  his 
friend.  The  farewell  embrace  of  the  old  men,  too  old 
to  hope  for  another  meeting  here,  but  with  what  is  most 
precious  in  youth  still  strong  through  the  hope  full  of  im- 
mortality, was  as  beautiful  as  it  was  touching.  It  showed 
that  the  ancient  grace  of  friendship,  at  once  manly  and 
tender,  has  not  yet  been  withdrawn  from  the  earth.  The 
brotherly  love  of  primitive  Christianity,  as  seen  in  the 
parting  of  St.  Paul  and  the  elders  of  Ephesus,  reappeared 
in  full  union  with  the  primitive  faith  and  hope." 

Hearing  of  Mr.  Andrews'  illness  in  England, 
President  Porter  wrote  him  the  following  letter, 
under  date  of  July  i,  1883: 

"My  Dear  Friend: — I  have  only  just  heard  that 
you  are  not  so  well,  and  that  Mrs.  Andrews  has  gone  to 
you.  I  need  not  say  that  this  news  is  very  distressing  to 
me,  so  distressing  that  I  cannot  delay  for  a  moment  till 
I  send  you  a  word  of  love  and  sympathy.  It  is  only  be- 
tween ourselves  that  our  warm  and  unbroken  love  is  fully 
understood,  and  our  intimate  sympathy;  for  no  others 
can  appreciate  the  early  beginnings  of  our  college  friend- 
ship, and  the  close  connections  of  this  friendship  in  our 


Illness  in  Eno^land  i55 


'& 


early  ministerial  life,  and  the  unabated  love  and  confi- 
dence of  more  than  fifty  years.  We  have  loved  each 
other  none  the  less  that  on  some  points  deemed  by  both 
of  us  very  important  we  did  not  agree.  But  we  have 
been  at  one  most  warmly  in  respect  to  the  great  essen- 
tials of  the  Christian  faith.  ...  It  distresses  me 
more  than  I  can  express  that  you  should  be  so  ill  in 
a  distant  land — even  though  the  land  is  our  mother-land. 
I  need  not  assure  you  of  my  warmest  and  tenderest  love, 
and  yet  it  gives  me  some  sort  of  satisfaction  in  sending 
the  assurance  in  this  imperfect  way." 

Mr.  Andrews  gradually  regained  strength  after 
his  return  from  England,  but  did  not  for  some  time 
resume  his  full  evangelistic  work.  A  little  later  he 
wrote  a  brief  article  on  the  Faith  Cure,  in  which 
he  says : 

"  There  is  certainly  nothing  wrong  in  looking  to  God 
in  faith  for  the  healing  of  sickness,  nor  should  it  be 
thought  incredible  that  He  should  answer  prayer  to  heal 
when  all  natural  means  have  failed.  Christian  biography 
records  thousands  of  such  instances.  .  .  .  The  fa- 
naticism of  the  '  Faith  Cure  '  is  its  negation  or  dis- 
couragement of  the  use  of  medicines  and  of  physicians, 
which  are  God's  gifts  to  mankind  in  the  region  of  the 
natural,  and  are  as  lawful  to  be  used  as  the  supernatural 
gifts  in  the  region  of  the  supernatural." 

In  October,  1887,  the  Rev.  Dr.  N.  J.  Burton,  of 
Hartford,  died.  He  had  seen  much  of  Mr.  Andrews 
in  the  Liturgical  Club  and  elsewhere.  A  little  be- 
fore his  death  he  sent  the  following  letter : 

"  Dear  Mr.  Andrews: — I  always  like  to  read  what 
you  write,  and  so  I  have  read  with  real  pleasure  your 


156        William  Watson  Andrews 

paper,  just  received,  on  '  The  Present  and  Abiding 
Humanity  of  our  Lord.'  It  reads  just  as  it  soujided 
when  you  gave  it  to  us  at  the  Ministers'  Meeting,  and  is 
a  delightful  statement  of  a  great  and  precious  truth, — a 
truth,  too,  that  needs  to  be  stated  and  much  repeated. 
And,  as  I  read,  a  feeling  I  have  often  had  comes  in  to 
me  anew,  that  it  is  time  for  you  to  get  out  a  volume  or 
two  of  discourses — two  at  least.  One  volume  might  take 
up  matters  of  ritual,  and  another  matters  of  doctrine.  I 
do  not  see  how  they  could  fail  to  be  read.  It  is  many 
years  now  since  I  began  to  enjoy  you  and  your  mind, 
and  my  joy  in  you  abates  not.  It  is  partly  natural  and 
partly  spiritual,  and  I  hope  it  will  keep  on  to  endless 
ages.  I  have  read  with  a  keen  relish  —  it  took  a  little 
preliminary  exercise  of  my  mind  to  adjust  myself  to  his 
way  of  handling  things  —  the  Five  Sermons  of  the  Rev. 
Nicholas  Armstrong,'  which  you  handed  me;  and  now  I 
want  more  of  him.  Have  you  other  volumes  of  his  ? 
I  bless  you  out  of  my  heart,  and  I  pray  God  to  keep  you 
among  us  a  long  time  yet." 

The  Hartford  Times  had  expressed  the  hope  that 
a  proposed  volume  of  Dr.  Burton's  sermons  and 
lectures  would  contain  as  little  as  possible  of  those 
**  cold  glooms  of  the  stark  old  Calvinist  theology 
into  which  he  would  sometimes  drift  back,"  giving 
barely  a  "  touch  of  the  haunting  old  night-shadows 

'  One  of  the  restored  Apostles.  Of  Mr.  Armstrong  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Zachary  Eddy,  Congregational  pastor  at  Northampton,  Mass., 
wrote:  "I  would  like  much  to  meet  Mr.  Armstrong,  should  he 
return  to  this  country.  I  remember  his  sermons  in  New  York  with 
the  deepest  interest.  There  was  a  power  in  them  truly  prophetic, — 
a  kind  of  power  which  I  do  not  often  recognize  in  the  preaching  of 
our  contemporaries.  .  .  .  Mr.  Armstrong  is  unlike  any  other 
man.     He  seems  to  speak  in  the  Spirit." 


The  Old  Christianity  157 

that  still  at  times  had  power  over  him."  Mr.  An- 
drews, by  way  of  comment  on  this,  affirmed  that 
Dr.  Burton  "  had  never  held  "  the  old  Calvinist 
theology,  but  that  when  he  came  to  Hartford  thirty 
years  before,  he  "  refused  to  be  bound  by  old  tradi- 
tions and  hoary  creeds  "  ;  and  that  "  he  might  early 
have  become  a  mere  humanitarian,  and  have  come 
to  put  Christianity  by  the  side  of  other  great  re- 
ligions,"— one  of  the  many, —  to  receive,  like  them, 
"  praise  and  blame."     But  it  was  far  otherwise. 

After  some  years  "  his  Christian  friends  were 
stirred  by  rumors  of  a  great  change  in  Dr.  Burton's 
preaching  of  the  Atonement."  The  change  was 
not  transient,  but  permanent;  and  "  from  this  time, 
the  death  of  Christ  was  no  longer  to  him  a  mere 
means  of  moral  suasion,  but  a  great  and  awful,  yet 
most  merciful,  act  of  God,  for  the  reconciling  of  the 
world  unto  Himself,  by  the  blotting  out  upon  the 
cross  of  the  sin  which  had  made  the^separation." 

A  little  later  Dr.  Burton  was  brought  to  a  stronger 
grasp  of  the  fact  of  the  Resurrection,  and  to  a 
deeper  insight  into  its  nature  and  results.  In  an 
address  at  his  funeral  the  Rev,  Mr.  Twichell  said  on 
this  point:  "  He  told  me  that  there  were  hours 
when  he  could  scarcely  restrain  himself  from  crying 
out,  so  mightily  was  his  spirit  moved  with  the  sense 
of  the  glory  of  the  things  it  was  given  faith  to  know." 

Another  change  in  Dr.  Burton's  principles  related 
to  worship.  "  So  far  as  the  limitations  of  the  Con- 
gregational system  permitted,  he  strove  to  make 
room  for  something  more  full,  more  spiritually  up- 
lifting, and  in  closer  harmony  with  the  usages  of 
the    universal    Church.      His    imagination    craved 


158        William  Watson  Andrews 

elements  of  beauty  and  majesty  in  the  public  wor- 
ship of  Almighty  God." 

But  the  theological  change  which  gave  Dr.  Burton 
his  new  hold  on  the  truths  of  our  Lord's  Death  and 
Resurrection,  was  not  a  "  drifting  back  into  Calvin- 
ist  theology.  .  .  .  These  are  no  peculiarities  of 
Galvanism,  but  belong  to  the  faith  of  the  one  uni- 
versal Ghurch  in  all  ages."  In  accepting  them, 
moreover,  Dr.  Burton  continued  "  to  enjoy  the 
highest  spiritual  freedom.  .  .  .  But  he  was 
never  carried  beyond  the  orbit  of  which  Ghrist  is 
the  centre,  when  once  he  had  found  it.  Or,  if  ever 
for  a  moment,  he  returned  with  joy  to  move  in 
obedience  to  the  heavenly  law." 

We  have  here  a  fresh  illustration  of  the  depth  of 
sympathy  of  Mr.  Andrews  with  those  who  continued 
to  differ  from  him  on  matters  which  were  to  him  of 
the  utmost  moment.  We  have  an  illustration,  too, 
of  the  position  which  he  held  as  a  champion  of  the 
Gatholic  Faith  and  of  essential  evangelical  ortho- 
doxy, without  at  all  committing  himself  to  the 
absolute  defense  of  any  modern  system  of  theology. 
Other  examples  of  this  attitude  can  easily  be  given, 
but  one  will  suffice, — some  extracts  from  an  article 
on  The  Old  Christianity  {Hartford  Times,  Novem- 
ber,   1887). 

Mr.  Andrews,  having  protested  indignantly  against 
Golonel  IngersoU's  description  in  one  of  his  public 
lectures  of  the  household  life  of  the  New  England 
clergy  of  the  last  generation,  and  declared  his  belief, 
based  on  his  personal  recollections,  "  that  there  was 
more  true  domestic  happiness  then  than  now,  more 
free  play  of  the  affections,  and   a  more  healthful 


The  Old  Christianity  159 

enjoyment  of  life,"  was  asked  by  the  Times  (always 
most  generous  in  giving  him  the  use  of  its  columns), 
to  answer  certain  questions,  as  being  "  one  of  the 
ablest  defenders  of  the  old  orthodox  faith  "  in 
Connecticut. 

In  putting  them  the  Times  clearly  identified  "  The 
Old  Christianity"  with  "  the  orthodoxy  of  sixty 
years  ago."  Mr.  Andrews  began  his  reply  by 
virtually  setting  aside  this  identification.  To  him 
"  The  Old  Christianity  "  was  the  doctrine  about 
Christ  "  which  has  been  held  in  substance  in  all 
ages,  and  is  embodied  in  the  Nicene  creed."  "  I 
refuse,"  he  wrote,  "to  be  bound  by  any  hard  say- 
ings, whether  of  Augustine,  or  Calvin,  or  Jonathan 
Edwards,  which  are  not  in  harmony  with  the  grand 
outlines  of  the  New  Testament.  The  doctors  of 
the  Church  have  indulged  in  many  private  specula- 
tions which  form  no  part  of  the  Christian  system, 
and  for  which  I  will  not  be  held  responsible. ' '  After 
pointing  out  that  sin  and  death  are  facts,  and  that 
they  call  for  the  work  of  redemption  which  is  set 
forth  in  Christianity,  he  proceeded  to  make  his  *'  Con- 
fession of  Faith."  It  need  be  given  only  so  far  as 
it  answers  the  questions  put  by  the  Times.  To  the 
first,  which  related  to  the  possibility  of  salvation  for 
those  who  never  heard  of  Christ,  Mr.  Andrews  re- 
plied:  "  I  do  7iot  believe  that  all  who  have  never 
heard  of  Christ  will  perish, — that  ignorance  of  a  fact 
of  history,  irrespective  of  morals  and  spiritual  char- 
acter, will  shut  out  from  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
for  I  believe  that  all  men  have  been  redeemed  by 
Christ,  and  .  .  .  that  they  will  be  judged  ac- 
cording to  the  light  they  have  had." 


i6o        William  Watson  Andrews 

The  second  question  related  to  the  salvation  of 
infants,  and  this  was  the  substance  of  the  reply ; 
"  I  do  7iot  believe  that  infants  are  lost,  for  the 
mercies  of  God  embrace  all  mankind." 

To  the  third  question,  whether  there  is  any  hell 
except  remorse,  and  whether  future  punishment 
"  will  be  precisely  in  proportion  to  the  sins  com- 
mitted," the  answer  was:  "  I  do  not  believe  that 
remorse  is  the  only  punishment  of  the  wicked  .  .  . 
because  the  Scriptures  always  represent  God  as  ex- 
pressing, in  the  sentence  he  pronounces  on  them. 
His  own  abhorrence  of  sins."  The  second  part  of 
the  question  does  not  seem  to  be  answered  explicitly ; 
doubtless  he  would  have  said  that  punishment  must 
be  proportioned  to  guilt. 

On  the  last  question,  concerning  the  chance  that  a 
spirit  (evidently  having  left  this  world  unrepentant) 
may,  when  "  the  covering  and  perishable  part  is 
dropped,  .  .  .  progress  to  a  happier  state,"  Mr.  An- 
drews wrote:  "  Nor  do  I  believe  that  for  those  who 
have  plainly  and  decisively  rejected  the  redemption 
which  comes  through  Jesus  Christ,  or  in  whom  is 
the  spirit  of  rejection,  there  will  be  any  other  oppor- 
tunity of  repentance."  In  the  closing  paragraph  of 
a  rather  long  article  he  said  that  "  from  a  destiny 
of  unimaginable  honor  and  blessedness  nothing  can 
keep  any  man  back  but  his  refusal  to  receive  it. 
Nothing  can  turn  back  the  love  of  Christ, 
but  the  barring  and  bolting  of  the  heart  against  it." 

The  Times  recognized  the  variation  of  this  "  con- 
fession "  from  "  the  iron  lines  of  the  old  orthodox 
Calvinistic  leaders." 

To  them    Mr.   Andrews    acknowledg-ed    no   alle- 


Reunion  of  Christendom  i6i 

giance,  while  against  many  new  leaders  he  main- 
tained the  faith  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  regard  to 
the  fate  of  the  impenitent,  which  is  held  doubtfully, 
or  rejected,  by  some  who  profess  the  creeds.  He, 
like  Dr.  Burton,  was  not  unaffected  by  the  deeper 
insight   into   God's  love,   which   has   modified  the 

orthodoxy  "  of  New  England.  But  he  would 
give  up  no  truth  because  of  its  unpopularity.  He 
was  always  on  the  conservative  side,  and  had  come 
to  be  regarded  by  conservative  Christians  as  a  stout 
defender  of  the  truths  they  most  valued.' 

In  an  article  on  "  The  Reunion  of  Christendom  " 
he  speaks  of  the  real  and  great  difficulties  in  the 
way,  but  says : 

"  Most  Protestants  are  coming  to  feel  that  unity  is 
better  than  division,  and  that  the  spectacle  of  strifes  and 
antagonisms  which  now  everywhere  meets  the  eye,  is  in 
sharpest  contrast  with  what  St.  Paul  says  of  the  Church. 
.  .  .  What,  then,  is  to  be  done  ?  Is  deliverance  out  of 
this  chaos  hopeless  ?  .  .  .  There  has  been  no  end  of 
contentions  between  religious  bodies  for  superiority,  and 
of  boastful  comparisons  of  one  with  another;  and  nothing 
has  been  gained.  Is  it  not  time  to  ask  an  altogether 
different  question,  and  to  consider  the  methods  by  which 
unity  was  secured  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  Church  ? 
What  provisions  were  then  made  for  binding  together  in 
organic  fellowship  the  motley  elements  of  Jew  and  Gen- 
tile, barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  and  free;  all  forms  of 
character,  and  all  ranks  and  gradations  of  society." 

'  It  is  known  that  the  late  Bishop  Williams  of  Connecticut,  though 
earlier  much  opposed  to  his  ecclesiastical  position,  had  not  only  for 
many  years  regarded  Mr.  Andrews  as  true  to  the  Catholic  Faith,  but 
that  he  set  a  very  high  value  on  his  judgment  as  to  matters  of  dogma. 


1 62        William  Watson  Andrews 

After  speaking  of  the  central  authority  vested  in 
the  Apostles,  he  asks : 

"  Now,  if  St.  Paul  and  St.  John  were  to  return  to  the 
Church,  with  apostolic  grace  and  authority,  would  it 
not  be  possible  for  all  true-hearted  Christians  to  gather 
around  them,  longing  to  be  taught  the  fulness  of  the 
truth,  and  be  relieved  from  the  errors  to  which  all  must 
confess  themselves  liable,  and  to  be  brought  into  right 
relations  to  one  another  as  members  of  one  body  ?  There 
would  be  no  boasting  of  one  denomination  of  churches 
over  another.  The  truth  held  by  each  would  be  ac- 
knowledged, and  its  deficiencies  pointed  out.  No  one 
could  say  to  another.  You  have  submitted  to  us.  Be- 
lievers would  be  banded  to  Christ  in  the  persons  of  His 
highest  representatives;  no  forced,  unwilling  submission, 
but  a  filial,  joyful  acquiescence  in  the  will  of  the  One 
Head,  made  known  with  convincing  power  by  His  chosen 
ministers;  and  be  filled  with  the  light  and  inspiration  of 
His  Spirit. 

"  If  any  deem  this  a  fond  dream,  I  can  only  say  that 
such  was  God's  way  of  unity  in  the  beginning,  the  only 
way  ever  stamped  with  His  approval,  and  that  any  other 
remedy  is  showing  itself  a  failure." 

He  gave  in  Hartford  three  lectures  on  the  Nicene 
Creed.  In  these,  speaking  of  the  Incarnation,  he 
says : 

"  Its  spiritual  blessings  qre  conveyed  by  means  of 
visible  ordinances  appointed  by  Christ,  and  used  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  as  the  instruments  of  His  working;  of  these 
there  were  four  in  the  primitive  Church  of  pre-eminent 
value:  First,  the  preaching  of  the  word  for  the  working 
of  faith.  Secondly,  Baptism  for  the  implanting  of  the 
life  of  the  risen  Jesus.     Thirdly,  the  Holy  Eucharist  for 


The  Nicene  Creed  163 

the  nourishment  of  that  life.  Fourthly,  the  laying  on 
of  the  hands  of  Apostles  for  the  conveying  of  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost." 

Among  the  errors  to  be  guarded  against  were 
enumerated : 

"  First,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  not  a  Person,  but  an  in- 
fluence. Secondly,  that  He  works  independently  of  the 
ordinances  of  Christ.  Thirdly,  that  spiritually  gifted  ; 
persons  are  not  subjected  to  the  rule  of  the  Lord  through/ 
His  ministers.  Fourthly,  that  their  utterances  are  above/ 
the  Scriptures.  Fifthly,  that  the  Church  is  not  entitled! 
to  the  fulness  of  the  spiritual  gifts  and  operations  of  the 
beginning." 

In  a  letter  to  Dr.  Porter,  dated  November  27, 
1888,  he  makes  an  interesting  reference  to  a  task 
which  had  occupied  him  at  intervals  since  1874,  and 
which  nine  years  later  he  left  incomplete. 

"  The  principal  work  I  have  been  doing,  apart  from 
official  duties,  has  been  the  preparing  of  a  volume  of 
Lectures  on  Worship.  First  and  last  I  have  given  a 
good  deal  of  hard  work  to  the  subject,  and  I  think  I 
shall  be  able  to  present  it  in  some  new  lights,  and  to  set 
forth  more  clearly  than  it  has  been  often  done,  the  great 
principles  which  underlie  and  dominate  it.  I  hope  to 
finish  it  the  coming  winter.  The  bulk  of  it  is  finished, 
but  it  needs  arranging  zn^  filling  in.'' 

In  the  same  letter  he  said : 

"  I  have  read,  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  Robert 
Els7nere,  with  mingled  admiration  and  sorrow, — admira- 
tion for  the  literary  beauty  and  moral  purity  of  the  book; 
sorrow  for  the  hostility  to  the  Christian  faith  which  it 


164        William  Watson  Andrews 

shows,  and  I  might  almost  add  with  contempt  for  the  weak- 
ness of  its  reasonings  against  the  supernatural  facts  of 
Christianity.  The  prodigious  circulation  of  the  book  is 
of  itself  a  sign  of  the  times.  It  shows  a  soil  prepared  for 
noxious  seed.  It  is  a  revelation  of  the  general  weakness 
of  faith  in  the  supernatural.  It  ought  not  to  surprise  us, 
remembering  our  Lord's  words,  '  When  the  Son  of  Man 
Cometh,  shall  He  find  faith  on  the  earth  ?  '  There  is  a 
great  deal  of  talk  about  faith  in  the  Pe7'son  of  Christ, 
which  seems  to  me  very  shallow.  Faith  in  Him  as  a 
Person  amounts  to  nothing  unless  we  know  who  He  is^ 
and  what  He  has  done. ' ' 

In  March,  1889,  he  wrote  as  follows  to  President 
Porter,  referring  to  the  burial  of  Mr.  Chauncey 
Cowles : 

"  Your  sisters  have  doubtless  written  to  you  of  my 
little  visit  at  Farmington.  I  was  glad  to  be  there,  al- 
though the  occasion  that  called  me  was  a  sad  one.  That 
old  home,  full  of  precious  memories,  is  now  desolate  in- 
deed. .  .  .  Poor  dear  Chauncey  !  How  many  dis- 
appointments came  to  him,  how  many  burdens  were  laid 
upon  him.  But  he  came  out  of  all  his  trials  like  the  pure 
gold  of  the  furnace,  and  his  rest,  we  are  sure,  is  peace. 

"  I  have  had  another  call  to  a  somewhat  similar  ser- 
vice, of  which  you  have  not  probably  heard.  Two  tablets 
have  been  placed  in  the  church  in  Salisbury,  in  memory 
of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Lee,  the  first  pastor,  and  of  our  old 
friend  Dr.  Reid.  I  was  asked  to  be  present  at  the  un- 
veiling of  these  tablets,  and  to  make  an  address,  which 
I  was  very  glad  to  do.  .  .  .  He  [Dr.  Reid]  was 
one  of  the  most  impressive  preachers  I  ever  heard.  His 
voice,  his  tall  slender  person,  his  nervous  excitement 
making  his  whole  frame  tremulous,  his  Scotch  brogue 


The  Higher  Criticism  165 

giving  a  little  weirdness  to  his  utterances,  and  his  power 
of  putting  things  clearly  and  forcibly  and  with  much 
beauty  of  illustration,  made  him  a  power  in  the  pulpit. 
If  he  had  been  ambitious,  he  might  have  made  himself  a 
name  amongst  the  pulpit  orators  of  the  day." 

In  the  same  letter  he  speaks  thus  of  the  Higher 
Criticism : 

"  In  one  sense  I  do  not  care  whether  there  were  three 
Isaiahs  or  thirty,  if  only  it  be  admitted  that  the  parts 
were  put  together  under  Divine  inspiration,  and  that  as 
we  have  it  it  is  the  word  of  God.  I  shall  continue  to 
read  the  Old  Testament  as  the  Lord  did,  with  the  same 
faith  in  its  historical  statements,  and  the  same  delight  in 
it  as  a  Revelation  of  the  mind  and  heart  of  God.  No- 
thing can  ever  make  me  believe  that  He  would  speak  as 
He  did  of  a  book  of  myths  and  legends." 

In  May,  1889,  Mr.  Andrews  wrote  an  article 
criticising  an  Easter  Sermon  on  Spiritualism,  by  a 
Unitarian  clergyman  of  Boston,  the  Rev.  M.  J.  Sav- 
age, who  expressed  his  belief  that  it  "  opens  a  new 
ground  of  hope  to  mankind,"  and  "  proves  itself  to 
be  the  most  effective  solvent  of  the  old  dogmas  that 
the  world  has  ever  seen."  This  article  brought 
forth  a  long  reply  from  Mr.  Henry  Kiddle,  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Schools  in  New  York  City, 
which  Mr,  Andrews  answered.  In  the  last  letter  of 
Mr.  Andrews  he  said : 

"  I  am  a  Christian  believer,  and  I  test  whatever  comes 
to  me  as  a  spiritual  movement  by  the  Christian  Faith.  C 
And  by  the  Christian  Faith  I  mean  these  four  funda-  "> 
mental  facts:  The  pre-existence  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  /^ 
only  and  eternally  begotten  Son  of  God;  His  entrance 


1 66        William  Watson  Andrews 

into  humanity  by  birth  of  a  human  mother  through  the 
overshadowing  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  His  death  as  an 
atonement  for  sin,  following  a  life  of  spotless  holiness; 
and  His  true  bodily  resurrection  from  the  dead. 
This  has  been  the  faith  of  the  universal  Church  in  all 
ages,  and  this  is  my  standard  of  judgment.  It  is  not 
Christianity  which  is  on  trial,  but  Spiritualism;  nor  do  I 
for  a  moment  admit  the  possibility  that  the  faith  of  the 
ages  is  to  be  destroyed  by  any  revelations,  real  or  pre- 
tended, of  the  nineteenth  century.  I  refuse  to  submit 
Christianity  to  the  test  of  utterances  by  the  so-called 
spirits  of  the  dead;  but  I  try  these  utterances  by  the 
Scriptures  of  truth,  the  written  word  of  the  living  God ; 
and  if  they  cannot  stand  the  test,  I  ask  for  no  further 
reasons  for  rejecting  them." 


CHAPTER  XI 


CLOSING  YEARS 


MR.  ANDREWS  completed  his  eightieth  year 
on  the  26th  of  February,  1890.     The  next 
day  he  wrote  the  following  letter  to  Presi- 
dent Porter: 

"  My  dear  old  Friend: — Salute  me  with  veneration. 
I  am  an  octogenarian.  Yesterday  I  crossed  the  line  of 
the  seventies,  and  reached  the  honor  of  fourscore.  I  will 
not  say  the  burden,  for  I  enter  on  the  new  stage  with  more 
of  vigor  than  I  could  reasonably  expect.  But  eighty 
years  are  a  very  large  portion  of  man's  allotted  time 
under  the  present  conditions  of  human  existence;  and 
what  remains  must  have  more  or  less  of  infirmity  and 
disability.  But  these  conditions  are  not  eternal.  Life, 
truly  such,  will  be  freed  from  them,  and  so  I  look  with 
continual  hope  for  Him  who  is  the  Resurrection  and  the 
Life,  to  come  and  work  in  us  the  glorious  transformation 
which  His  own  humanity  has  undergone.  I  do  not  think 
we  ought  to  be  satisfied  with  death.  It  is  overruled  for 
blessing,  but  it  is  not  in  itself  a  blessing.  We  should 
not  fear  it,  for  all  things  are  ours;  but  I  confess  to  be  of 
Paul's  mind  when  he  said  it  was  better  not  to  be  un- 
clothed, but  clothed  upon.     ... 

167 


i68        William  Watson  Andrews 

"  And  now  another  decade  opens  before  me.  I  do 
not  know^  nor  wish  to  know,  what  it  will  bring;  but  I 
hope  it  will  bring  the  Conqueror  of  death,  and  the  Re- 
deemer of  the  groaning  creation." 

To  this  letter  President  Porter  made  a  brief  reply  : 

"My  dear  old  —  now  older  —  Friend: — Many- 
thanks  for  your  friendly  letter  redolent  of  perpetual  youth. 
It  seems  to  me  that  the  octogenarians  of  the  present  day 
are  younger  and  fresher  than  they  were  when  we  were 
younger  than  the  family  Bible  makes  us  to  be." 

He  received  from  the  Rev.  A.  C.  Adams,  a  former 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Wethersfield,  and  still  resid- 
ing there,  the  following: 

"  I  am  not  willing  to  let  your  eightieth  birthday  pass 
without  saying  how  much  I  think  you  are  to  be  congratu- 
lated on  this  rounding  up  of  your  life,  and  on  all  the 
blessings  that  have  attended  it  and  that  crown  it.  But 
particularly  I  ought  to  inthnate  —  for  I  cannot  fully  tell — 
how  largely  your  life  has  entered  into  mine,  and  how  help- 
ful and  uplifting  its  influence  has  been,  and  that  more  and 
more  from  the  time  when  I  first  came  to  be  your  neigh- 
bor in  November,  1867,  until  now  —  more  than  twenty- 
two  years.  How  often  your  intellectual  activity  has 
quickened  mine,  and  your  broader  range  of  thought  and 
experience  has  led  me  out  into  a  comparatively  large 
place.  How  many  times  my  weak  and  wavering  faith 
has  been  confirmed  by  your  Christian  confidence,  and 
my  sometimes  perturbed  spirit  has  been  tranquillized  by 
your  tranquillity.  How  many  times  you  have  put  me  at 
my  best  —  in  our  conversation  —  and  I  have  almost  felt 
as  if  I  were  cheating  you  by  a  manner  of  thought  and  a 
bearing  which  was  more  the  reflection  of  yourself  than 


St.  Paul  and  Newman  169 

the  natural  action  of  my  own  mind.  I  have  not  indeed 
been  able  to  accept  all  your  views,  and  I  do  not  now; 
but  they  have  greatly  modified  mine,  and  helped  me  to 
grander  and  more  gladdening  views  of  our  Lord  and  of 
His  Kingdom." 

In  a  nev^spaper  article  (December,  1890)  Mr. 
Andrews  compares  Cardinal  Newman  and  St.  Paul, 
showing  the  different  attitudes  which  they  assumed 
toward  the  religious  bodies  in  which  they  had  been 
educated ;  and  which  is  illustrative  of  his  own  atti- 
tude toward  the  past. 

"  The  first  contrast  between  Cardinal  Newman  and  St. 
Paul  is,  that  the  one  treated  his  mother-church  as  never 
having  had  any  Divine  standing;  while  the  other  ac- 
knowledged his  mother-church  to  have  been  the  covenant 
people  of  God,  and  saw  that  Christianity  stood  in  no 
antagonism  to  Judaism,  but  was  its  fulfilment  and  com- 
pletion. St.  Paul's  movement  from  Judaism  to  Chris- 
tianity was  thus  an  onward  movement;  while  Cardinal 
Newman's  exodus  from  the  Church  of  England  to  Rome 
was  a  retrograde  movement,  for  no  real  Divine  move- 
ment ever  dissevers  itself  from  the  past,  but  rests  upon 
it,  and  gathers  into  itself  the  good  that  has  been  in  it. 
Newman  virtually  denied  this  in  going  back  to  Rome. 
He  saw  nothing  in  the  Reformation  but  a  wicked  revolt 
against  Divine  authority.  .  .  .  And  no  doubt  the 
Reformation  was  in  some  sort  a  religious  insurrection  in 
which  much  was  swept  away  that  ought  to  have  been 
preserved.  But  to  condemn  it  by  wholesale  as  Newman 
did,  refusing  to  see  in  it  a  Divine  rebuke  of  great  sins, 
and  a  recovery  of  most  important  truths  as  to  the  Cross 
of  Christ,  was  to  deny  God  in  history. 

"  The  Reformation  can  never  be  left  out  as  a  great 
factor  for  good  as  well  as  for  evil,  in  the  progress  of  the 


I/O        William  Watson  Andrews 

Church.  Those  who  look  upon  it  as  nothing  but  a  moral 
and  spiritual  pestilence,  will  never  be  used  of  God  in  a 
truly  catholic  work,  such  as  must  be  done  to  prepare  the 
Church — her  members  of  all  generations — for  the  great 
event  which  is  before  her,  the  Marriage  of  the  Lamb." 

In  April,  1891,  the  church  in  Kent  celebrated  its 
150th  anniversary,  and  a  historical  discourse  was 
delivered  by  its  pastor,  the  Rev.  B.  W.  Wright. 
Recalling  his  predecessors  in  the  ministry,  after 
speaking  of  a  vacancy  of  five  years,  he  says : 

"  The  long  waiting  was  finally  closed  with  the  instal- 
lation of  W.  W.  Andrews  of  blessed  memory.  For  fif- 
teen years  he  faithfully  performed  his  labor  of  love, 
trusted  and  loved  by  his  people,  and  blessed  by  God. 
To  this  day  the  influence  of  his  mighty  personality  re- 
mains. To  those  who  lived  under  his  ministry,  his 
memory  is  a  benediction;  and  to  the  young,  the  most 
cherished  tradition  of  the  past.  .  .  .  He  walked 
with  God,  and  mirrored  Christ  to  his  people,  and  their 
every  interest  was  his  own." 

Mr.  Andrews  was  not  able  to  be  present,  but  sent 
a  letter,  afterward  printed,  from  which  we  have 
already  taken  an  extract.  In  this  he  speaks  of 
the  people  as  "  a  community  in  itself,  which  natu- 
rally kept  it  from  frequent  and  endless  changes,  and 
was  favorable  to  stability  of  character  and  fixedness 
of  habits." 

"  Into  this  Christian  community  I  came  in  early  man- 
hood, and  whatever  may  have  been  our  mutual  short- 
comings, I  can  truly  say  that  we  were  bound  together 
most  strongly  in  the  love  of  Christ.  I  rejoiced  to  do  the 
pastor's  and  the  preacher's  work,  and  beside  the  pastoral 


Letter  to  Kent  171 

labors,  the  preaching  of  Christ  was  to  me  a  delight.  I 
could  truly  say  with  St.  Paul,  '  I  determined  not  to  know 
anything  among  you  save  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  cruci- 
fied.' " 

In  the  conclusion  of  this  letter  he  refers  to  those 
departed  whom  he  had  known,  and  proceeds : 

"  Brethren,  there  is  another  Kent  than  is  assembled 
here  to-day.  You  are  but  one  generation.  But  four 
generations  before  you  have  ceased  from  their  conflicts 
and  toils  and  temptations  and  joys  of  this  life,  and  have 
entered  into  rest.  Their  bodies  are  with  you  still  in  this 
valley  and  on  yonder  hill  —  the  temples  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  —  watched  over  by  God,  under  the  guardianship 
it  may  be  of  His  holy  angels,  and  resting  in  the  hope 
of  the  blessed  resurrection.  Their  spirits  are  with  God, 
in  joyful  communion  with  Christ  and  the  quiet  company 
of  the  faithful  of  all  generations;  but  they  are  waiting 
for  the  adoption,  the  sonship  —  the  redemption  of  the 
body.  They  will  not  be  satisfied  until  they  are  like 
their  Saviour  in  all  things,  and  the  same  change  has 
passed  over  them  which  passed  over  Him  in  His  resur- 
rection, and  He  has  transformed  their  '  body  of  humili- 
ation into  the  likeness  of  the  body  of  His  glory.' 

"  Have  you  no  duty,  dear  Brethren,  to  perform  toward 
them?  —  no  desires  to  breathe  in  your  prayers  that  the 
day  of  their  glorious  deliverance  may  be  hastened,  and 
you  see  them  again,  not  in  the  weakness  or  unsightli- 
ness  of  the  mortal  body,  but  in  the  immortality  and 
beauty  and  glory  of  which  Christ  gave  us  a  picture  on 
the  Mount  of  Transfiguration  ? 

"  This,  dear  Brethren,  is  the  hope  of  the  Lord  Him- 
self; it  is  the  hope  of  the  holy  sleepers  whose  bodies 
death  still  holds  in  its  power.  .  .  ,  And  to  you, 
who  have  here  borne  the  pastor's  yoke  for  Christ,  let  me 


172        William  Watson  Andrews 

express  my  thankfulness  for  all  that  you  have  done  for 
the  flock  dear  to  you  and  to  me,  and  my  trust  that  we 
shall  have  a  common  reward  in  the  day  when  He  shall 
make  up  His  jewels,  and  bring  forth  crowns  of  righteous- 
ness for  the  faithful  out  of  His  royal  treasuries." 

In  May,  1891,  Mrs,  Josephine  Desnoyers  Barnard, 
wife  of  his  friend,  the  Hon.  Henry  Barnard,  whom 
Mr.  Andrews  had  known  from  his  college  days,  died 
at  Hartford,  and  he  wrote  a  note  of  sympathy  which 
was  subsequently  printed  by  the  family.  We  make 
an  extract  from  it  which  will  show  both  the  largeness 
of  his  spirit  and  the  clearness  and  firmness  with  which 
he  held  the  unity  in  Christ  of  the  baptized.  After 
speaking  of  Mrs.  Barnard's  position  as  one  reared 
(Detroit,  Michigan)  in  the  communion  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  he  adds:  "  The  wealth  and  culture 
of  her  New  England  residence  were  adverse  to  the 
religious  doctrines  and  rites  in  which  she  had  been 
trained  ;  but  her  steadfastness  of  character  was 
shown  in  her  unbroken  adherence  to  the  communion 
in  which  her  childhood  and  youth  were  spent.  She 
won  the  respect  and  love  of  those  who  were  honored 
with  her  acquaintance,  in  spite  of  their  actual  diver- 
sities; and  many  learned  from  her  a  lesson  of  Divine 
charity,  and  were  made  to  feel  that  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  is  not  shut  up  within  the  narrow  bounds 
which  the  leaders  of  sects  and  parties  have  marked 
out  for  Him. 

One  of  the  happy  influences  of  such  a  life  and 
character  is  to  give  reality  to  the  idea  of  Christian 
unity,  and  to  show  by  one  of  the  sweetest  and  holi- 
est examples  how  far-reaching  is  the  love  of  God, 
and  that  like  precious  fruits  of  the  one  Spirit  are 


Anniversary  at  Kent  175 

produced  under  great  outward  dissimilarities.  The 
Divine  life  works  in  all  the  members  of  Christ,  and 
comes  forth  in  manifestations  of  spiritual  grace 
and  beauty  where  rash  and  uncharitable  judgments 
would  deny  its  existence  altogether." 

President  Porter  died  March  4,  1892  (his  wife 
having  died  in  1888),  and  Mr.  Andrews  took  part 
in  the  funeral  services,  offering  a  prayer  at  the  house 
before  the  more  public  exercises  in  the  College 
Chapel,  where  the  address  was  delivered  by  Presi- 
dent Dwight.  It  has  been  already  mentioned  that 
to  the  Life  of  President  Porter,  published  1893,  Mr. 
Andrews,  at  the  request  of  the  family,  contributed 
a  paper  on  Dr.  Porter  as  "  A  Student  at  Yale." 

During  this  year  he  published  newspaper  articles 
on  St.  Paul  arid  St.  Peter,  ^lXv^  Astronomy  and  Christi- 
anity, which  last  was  reprinted  in  tract  form  in  Eng- 
land. 

In  the  year  1893  he  wrote  an  article  on  TJie 
Place  of  Newspapers,  in  which  he  defined  the  place 
and  duty  of  the  Press  and  of  the  Pulpit,  giving 
to  the  Press  a  high  place  as  public  instructor  and 
ethical  teacher;  the  article  ending  with  these  words: 

But  the  Press,  as  such,  is  no  Divine  organ  for  the 
teaching  of  Christian  doctrine,  and  has  no  mission 
to  supply  the  deficiencies  or  correct  the  errors  of  the 
Church." 

In  May,  1894,  just  after  the  sixtieth  anniversary 
of  his  ordination,  Mr.  Andrews  went  to  Kent  and 
delivered  an  address,  which  will  be  found  in  the 
second  part  of  this  volume. 

The  audience  which  he  addressed  was  made  up  of 
the  children  and  grandchildren  of  those  who  had 


^ir\        William  Watson  Andrews 

welcomed  him  to  Kent  two  generations  earlier. 
Only  six  persons,  it  is  said,  were  present  who  had 
been  present  at  his  ordination,  and  only  a  very  small 
minority  can  have  had  a  distinct  recollection  of  his 
pastorate.  But  he  felt  that  the  flock  was  there  in 
virtue  of  its  unbroken  corporate  life,  and  so  he  could 
pour  out  to  them  the  whole  wealth  of  pastoral  affec- 
tion with  which  his  heart  still  overflowed.  His  love 
made  the  dead  and  the  living  one. 

The  attachment  which  in  the  time  of  his  pastorate 
he  inspired  continued  to  be  cherished  by  those  left 
when  his  pastorate  ceased.  This  was  shown  in  the 
calls  to  attend  the  funerals  when  one  and  another 
of  those  who  had  labored  with  him  fell  asleep. 
Their  children  thus  learned  to  know  him,  and  to  re- 
gard him  as  more  than  an  old  friend  of  their  parents. 
When  in  1894  he  was  driven  through  the  parish,  he 
was  stopped  at  house  after  house,  not  that  he  should 
make  the  effort  to  enter  them,  but  that  their  occu- 
pants might  come  out  to  receive  the  benediction  of 
his  greeting.  In  a  sense  his  pastoral  relation  may 
be  said  to  have  ceased  only  with  his  life.  He  would 
from  principle  have  refrained  from  intruding  in  any 
way  on  the  province  of  the  faithful  men  who  suc- 
ceeded him  in  his  pastorate ;  but  probably  every  one 
could  without  any  sense  of  personal  disparagement 
say  that  while  he  lived  that  flock  would  so  gladly 
hear  the  voice  of  no  other  human  shepherd.  In  a 
letter  of  that  date,  from  the  pastor,  Mr.  Wright,  he 
says: 

"  Through  all  these  sixty  years  you  have  held  the 
affection  of  this  people,  and  have  been  a  great  force 
for  righteousness  here.     Faith  and  hope  and  love  are 


Anniversary  Address  175 

inspired  by  your  memory,  and  will  be  stimulated  by  your 
presence." 

His  address  on  this  occasion,  printed  a  few  months 
later,  was  sent  to  a  number  of  his  friends,  and  some 
acknowledgments  of  it  are  here  added. 

From  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  July  29,  1896: 

"  I  thank  you  very  much  for  your  thoughtful  courtesy 
in  sending  me  a  copy  of  your  Anniversary  Address.  It 
is  a  beautiful  tribute  —  if  you  will  allow  me  to  say  it  — 
both  to  the  parish  and  to  yourself,  and  is  full  of  words 
that  will  help  those  who  read  them.  I  cannot,  as  you 
know,  hold  to  all  that  you  hold;  but  I  thank  you  for 
helping  me  to  keep  my  thoughts  on  the  '  blessed  hope,' 
which  ever  grows  stronger  in  me." 

From  Professor  Fisher,  February  22,  1897: 

"  I  want  to  ask  you  if  you  can  spare  me  two  more 
copies  of  your  excellent  and  most  delightful  anniversary 
sermon  at  Kent.  If  so,  will  you  kindly  write  your  name 
(and  mine)  in  one  of  them;  for  I  must  acknowledge  that 
I  was  tempted  to  give  away  my  copy  to  some  friends 
who,  I  knew,  wanted  it  very  much." 

From  Professor  E.  E.  Salisbury,  March,  1897: 

"  Mrs.  Salisbury  and  I  have  read  or  heard  read  that 
beautifully  written  and  touchingly  gentle  and  affectionate 
review  of  your  well-spent  life  which  you  kindly  sent  us  a 
few  days  since.  I  had  marked  the  eloquent  fervor  of 
your  first  utterances  from  the  pulpit,  and  predicted  for 
you,  as  every  one  did,  a  distinguished  career.  I  had 
shared,  too,  in  your  first  pastoral  ministrations  in  Kent, 
spending  summers,    as  I   did,    with   my  family  at   Mr. 


176        William  Watson  Andrews 

Mills's;  and  I  can  see  you  now  as  you  stood  up  in  that 
pulpit  on  a  summer  day.  The  changes  of  your  later  life 
have  seemed  to  some  of  us  to  be  a  throwing  of  yourself 
away,  and  we  have  thought  that  the  universal  Church 
had  lost  much  by  your  so  hiding  yourself  as  you  have 
done  for  more  than  a  generation.  Yet,  in  common  with 
all  your  friends,  we  have  recognized  the  spotless  purity 
of  your  motives,  and  the  sweet  charity  for  others,  how- 
ever differing  from  you,  which  has  ever  shone  forth  in 
all  your  doings  and  sayings,  so  noticeable  in  these  times 
of  ill-disposed  judgment  and  unkind  criticism." 

From  a  layman,  March  25,  1897: 

"  It  is,  to  men  worn  and  tried  with  the  battle,  a  great 
refreshment  to  fall  in  with  those  who  have  been  winning 
the  fight  all  the  way  along.  And  it  is  to  me  an  especial 
help  to  find  one  who  is  standing  waiting  for  the  near, 
actual  coming  again  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  My  heart 
aches  for  the  desire  of  it.  The  need  of  Him  is  so  great; 
the  strife  is  so  bitter;  hope  seems  so  long  deferred;  and 
it  is  good  to  know  that  others  are  watching  the  heavens, 
and  to  hear  their  cry  of  unwavering  faith." 

From  a  lady,  May  24,  1897: 

"  Dear  Mr.  Andrews,  the  seed  you  dropped  into  my 
ears  did  not  fall  quite  lifeless  to  the  ground.  And  now  I, 
too,  am  ardently  wishing  and  longing  for  the  second 
coming  of  our  Blessed  Lord  and  Saviour.  And  with  you 
I  lament  over  the  increase  of  worldliness  on  every  side. 
Never  before  were  there  such  times  of  trouble,  and  yet 
how  carelessly  and  unthinkingly  are  they  regarded." 


CHAPTER  XII 


LAST   YEARS   AND   DEATH 


THE  position  of  Mr.  Andrews  during  all  the 
years  of  his  evangelistic  ministry  was,  as  we 
have  seen,  a  peculiar  one,  and  well  calculated 
to  try  his  faith  and  test  his  character  to  the  utmost. 
He  was  received  by  the  clergymen  and  laymen 
whom  he  met — not  his  personal  friends  —  for  the 
most  part  with  courtesy  and  respect,  and  listened  to 
with  more  or  less  interest;  but  it  was  plain  to  him 
that  when  he  began  to  speak  of  the  special  work  he 
came  to  do,  the  large  majority  looked  upon  him  as 
one  who  had  adopted  some  enthusiastic  and  fanciful 
notions  about  the  Church,  its  original  constitution 
and  present  evil  condition,  which  did  not  demand 
their  serious  consideration.  He  was  made  to  feel 
that  in  their  estimation  he  was  a  sincere  and  well- 
meaning  man,  holding  much  truth;  but  under  a  de- 
lusion as  to  the  fact  of  any  Divine  interposition  in 
the  restoration  of  the  original  ministries  and  ordi- 
nances, and  of  the  need  of  any  interposition.  His 
teaching  upon  this  point  was,  however,  many  said, 
not  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  churches,  since 

12  177 


178        William  Watson  Andrews 

he  would  find  very  few  to  receive  it.  The  words 
spoken  to  the  prophet  and  his  people  were  applicable 
to  him  and  his  auditors:  "  Thou  art  unto  them  as  a 
lovely  song  of  one  that  hath  a  pleasant  voice;  for 
they  hear  thy  words,  but  they  do  them  not  "  (Eze- 
kiel  xxxiii.  32). 

The  natural  effect  upon  one  standing  in  Mr.  An- 
drews' position,  hearing  his  good  almost  everywhere 
evil  spoken  of,  and  knowing  that  many  of  his  own 
friends  looked  upon  his  life  as  almost  wasted,  would 
be  to  give  his  spirit  a  tinge  of  bitterness,  and  to 
awaken  a  feeling  of  antagonism  which  would  find 
expression  in  censorious  and  denunciatory  words. 
But  it  may  be  said  that,  however  he  may  have  felt 
the  want  of  appreciation  and  sympathy,  no  denun- 
ciatory or  bitter  word  ever  passed  his  lips.  If  the 
special  truths  to  which  he  witnessed  were  rejected, 
sometimes  contemptuously,  this  rejection  necessa- 
rily carrying  more  or  less  of  personal  disparagement, 
he  bore  his  cross  to  the  end  without  a  murmur.  By 
his  acceptance  of  the  new  Apostolate  he  had  volun- 
tarily and  deliberately  taken  his  stand  without  the 
pale  of  all  the  existing  religious  bodies,  and  thus 
given  up  all  the  honors  and  distinctions  which  these 
could  bestow  upon  their  favorite  children.  The 
college  which  graduated  him  could  give  him  no 
marks  of  her  approval.  He  could  for  years  find  no 
support  in  others;  he  could  find  it  only  in  the  con- 
sciousness that  he  was  obeying  the  voice  of  God. 

It  need  not  be  said  that  to  one  thus  placed,  the 
standards  of  judgment  which  we  apply  to  a  leader 
in  an  old  and  recognized  religious  body,  or  to  the 
advocate  of  some  new  and  plausible  heresy,  or  to  a 


Last  Years  and  Death  179 

petted  and  flattered  popular  preacher,  had  no  appli- 
cation. He  must  be  judged  of  by  the  peculiarities 
of  his  position.  Forced  to  stand  alone,  yet  he 
would  not  be  alone.  He  was  in  the  largest  and 
truest  sense  catholic;  recognizing  the  brotherhood 
of  the  Baptized,  he  would  not  be  separated  from  his 
brethren.  If  contemned  and  ignored  by  them,  this 
did  not  change  his  fraternal  relation ;  and  wherever 
he  saw  truth  of  doctrine  or  holiness  of  life,  he  gladly 
recognized  and  rejoiced  in  it.  No  personal  neglect 
embittered  his  speech,  no  disparagement  of  his  work 
turned  him  away  from  his  labor  of  love.  Whilst 
he  would  not  call  evil  good,  or  good  evil,  and  was 
outspoken  in  his  affirmation  of  the  truths  he  be- 
lieved, he  impugned  no  man's  honesty,  he  imputed 
no  evil  motive.  He  always  sought  to  find  points  of 
unity  with  his  brethren,  and  no  words  of  coldness  or 
repulsion  on  their  part  made  him  treat  them  in 
other  than  a  loving  and  brotherly  spirit. 

This  largeness  of  heart  was  no  doubt  in  part  the 
manifestation  of  a  native  sympathetic  endowment, 
but  was  chiefly  due  to  the  catholicity  of  his  prin- 
ciples. It  need  not  be  said  that  as  growing  up  in 
the  Congregational  body,  and  for  many  years  a 
minister  in  it,  it  had  ever  a  strong  hold  upon  him ; 
but  he  learned  so  early  in  life  to  know  the  unity  of 
the  Church  under  the  one  Head,  that  in  all  his  min- 
istry he  aimed  to  present  this  unity  as  an  existing 
fact  to  be  recognized  by  all,  and  to  strengthen  the 
bonds  of  union.  He  never  came  under  the  power 
of  the  sectarian  spirit.  He  would  lift  up  every  man 
to  stand  by  the  Lord's  side  in  the  heavenlies,  and 
look  down  upon  the  Church  in  all  its  divisions  as 


i8o        William  Watson  Andrews 

He  looks  down  upon  it ;  and  thus  be  delivered  from 
those  inherited  prejudices,  that  narrowness  of  spirit, 
which  make  the  many  sects  Hke  hostile  camps,  re- 
sounding with  war-cries  and  the  clash  of  arms. 

It  was  inevitable  that  the  sectarian,  zealously 
laboring  for  the  advancement  of  his  sect,  forgetful 
that  every  part  shares  the  strength  or  weakness  of 
the  whole,  should  find  Mr.  Andrews'  teaching  as  to 
Church  unity  vague  and  unpractical;  and  should 
measure  success  by  the  number  he  had  gathered  into 
his  own  little  corner  of  the  great  fold,  and  his  ability 
to  keep  them  separated  from  their  brethren  around 
them. 

It  was  a  necessary  result  of  the  withdrawal  of  Mr. 
Andrews  from  his  active  evangelistic  labors,  that 
public  attention  should  be  withdrawn  in  large  meas- 
ure from  him.  The  work  was  carried  on  by  others, 
though  under  his  general  direction ;  and  his  last 
years  were  spent  in  comparative  quiet  and  seclusion. 
But  in  all  that  was  going  on  in  the  world  he  took 
unabated  interest,  and  studied  passing  events  in 
their  religious  and  moral  and  political  bearings, 
seeking  to  know  how  far  he  might  find  in  them  the 
fulfilment  of  God's  purpose  in  man.  As  he  saw  in 
the  Incarnate  Son  the  beginning  and  end  of  this 
purpose,  he  made  the  recognition  of  His  Divine 
Person,  and  of  His  prerogatives,  priestly  and  kingly, 
the  standard  by  which  to  test  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity. He  believed  the  one  great:  and  vital  ques- 
tion before  Christendom  to  be,  whether  it  will  or 
will  not  give  Him  the  place  which  belongs  to  Him 
as  the  living  Head  of  the  Church,  and  the  Prince  of 
the  kings  of  the  earth ;  and  pay  Him  the  honor  and 


Last  Years  and  Death  i8i 

obedience  which  are  His  due.  If  it  will  not,  then 
by  terrible  and  continued  judgments  will  He  prove 
His  supreme  authority,  and  bring  the  Church  and 
the  Christian  nations  to  a  penitent  confession  of 
their  sin  and  folly.  And  it  is  by  the  exercise  of  His 
prerogative,  in  sending  His  Apostles,  that  He  takes 
the  first  step  to  open  the  way  to  complete  the  work 
of  redemption,  and  to  establish  His  kingdom  of 
righteousness  and  glory.  Their  mission  is  a  sign 
and  proof  of  His  compassion  and  love. 

During  the  long  period  1831-1897,  Mr.  Andrews 
had  seen  many  changes  in  all  departments  of  human 
thought  and  action,  though  his  attention  was  espe- 
cially given  to  the  religious  changes.  In  this  period 
Evolution  had  appeared  as  a  scientific  theory,  and, 
following  in  its  wake,  philosophical  Agnosticism ; 
and  these  had  greatly  affected  the  belief  of  many  in 
Christian  theology.  For  a  personal  God,  the  Crea- 
tor and  Father,  he  saw  substituted  an  impersonal 
Energy  or  Force;  in  place  of  the  creation  of  the 
worlds,  their  eternal  existence.  If,  as  Evolution 
affirmed,  man  had  gradually  ascended  from  the 
lowest  condition  of  animal  life,  and  his  ascent  in  the 
future  is  to  be  continuous,  there  has  been  no  place 
for  the  fall  of  man,  nor  is  there  any  ground  to  affirm 
present  human  sinfulness.  There  is,  therefore,  no 
need  of  a  Saviour  from  sin ;  Christianity  loses  its 
distinctive  place  as  a  redemptive  religion,  proclaim- 
ing the  salvation  of  sinful  men  through  the  sacrifice 
offered  upon  the  Cross.  Christ  takes  His  place 
among  other  religious  teachers,  and  the  Christian 
religion  its  place  as  one  among  other  religions. 

In  this  Mr.  Andrews  recognized  the  great  peril  of 


1 82        William  Watson  Andrews 

the  Church,  and  the  craft  of  the  arch-enemy.  He 
noted  the  growth  in  many  Christian  circles  of  a 
subtle  form  of  pantheism — an  immanence  of  God  in 
man — revealing  itself  in  Christian  Science  and  kin- 
dred errors,  which  in  effect  sets  aside  all  need  of  an 
Incarnation  and  the  work  of  an  atoning  Saviour. 
He  heard  already  many  voices  crying  out  for  an 
eclectic  religion,  something  broader  than  Christian- 
ity, and  without  its  Cross;  and  for  a  Church  based 
upon  the  natural  goodness  and  adapted  to  the  ever- 
developing  powers  of  humanity.  With  every  pass- 
ing vear  he  saw  more  and  more  clearly  the  forces  of 
antichristianity  coming  into  view,  as  yet,  indeed, 
without  any  organized  unity,  discordant  and  con- 
flicting,— the  great  leader  not  having  appeared, — but 
all  animated  by  the  same  spirit  of  hostility  to  the 
Cross  of  Christ,  a  hostility  of  which  the  Lord  has 
warned  us:  "  Ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  the  nations 
for  my  Name's  sake." 

The  loss  of  the  sense  of  sin  seemed  to  Mr.  An- 
drews to  be  one  of  the  most  marked  religious  charac- 
teristics of  our  time.  Although  in  differing  forms, 
he  saw  this  as  clearly  in  the  Church  as  in  the  world. 
By  the  world  it  is  said  that  humanity  is  not  sinful 
— men  have  no  reason  to  fear  God's  anger,  nor 
nations  His  judgments;  by  the  Church,  that  she  as 
His  elect  is  secure  of  His  favor,  and  cannot  so  fall 
as  to  be  called  to  repentance.  It  was,  therefore,  no 
surprise  to  him  that  God's  professed  children,  them- 
selves denying  any  departure  from  God's  ways,  and 
disobedient  to  His  words,  should  find  their  calls  to 
those  without  to  repent  to  be  unheard,  and  mission- 
ary labor  to  produce  so  small  results.     The  Church 


Last  Years  and  Death  183 

must  first  make  humble  confession  of  her  own  sins, 
before  she  could  go  forth  to  call  sinners  to  repent- 
ance. But  of  this  he  saw  no  sign.  Rival  mission- 
aries are  sent  forth  with  partial  and  fragmentary- 
truths  to  reproduce  abroad  the  same  sects  and  dis- 
sensions which  prevail  at  home,  and  which  so  grieve 
and  dishonor  the  Head  and  provoke  His  righteous 
indignation. 

It  was  Mr.  Andrews'  often  expressed  conviction 
that  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  apostolic  evan- 
gelists, some  of  which  have  been  already  mentioned, 
are  steadily  increasing.  The  root  of  this  he  found 
in  the  growing  disbelief  throughout  Christendom  as 
to  any  return  of  the  Lord  to  the  earth.  This  dis- 
belief rests  on  several  grounds.  There  are  many 
who,  denying  the  fact  of  the  Incarnation,  see  in 
Jesus  only  an  inspired  teacher,  and  affirm  that  His 
work  was  finished  when  He  died;  and  that  there  is 
no  ground  for  expecting  Him  ever  to  return  to 
exercise  the  functions  of  Judge  and  King.  A  work, 
therefore,  professing  to  prepare  His  way,  is  vain 
and  foolish.  There  is  a  much  larger  number  who, 
though  not  wholly  denying  a  return,  and  a  possible 
preparation  for  it,  yet  put  it  so  far  off  in  the  future 
as  to  make  any  present  preparation  unnecessary  and 
premature.  And  others  question  any  return  for  re- 
surrection and  judgment,  since,  as  they  believe, 
souls  are  judged  at  death,  and  the  righteous  do  im- 
mediately pass  into  glory. 

Mr.  Andrews  saw,  also,  that  the  belief  that  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  to  be  established  through  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  embrace  all  nations, 
before  the  Lord  can  return,  is  now  almost  universal. 


1 84        William  Watson  Andrews 

If  this  is  the  Divine  purpose  as  revealed,  and  this 
the  work  God  has  given  His  Church  to  do,  any  an- 
nouncement of  His  return  till  it  is  done  is  unwar- 
ranted, and  not  to  be  heeded.  Christ's  own  words 
respecting  His  coming  again  to  make  all  things  new 
are  therefore  to  be  interpreted  in  a  spiritual  or  figu- 
rative sense,  meaning  only  the  religious  development 
of  the  race  through  the  diffusion  of  His  principles, 
not  any  personal  return. 

In  addition  to  these  grounds  for  rejecting  the 
apostolic  mission  as  not  in  the  line  of  the  Divine 
purpose,  is  to  be  added  the  fact  that  by  the  world 
at  large,  and  even  by  Christendom,  nothing  is  less 
desired  than  the  Lord's  presence  again  on  the  earth. 
Its  kings  would  not  welcome  Him  to  His  throne. 
The  Church,  in  all  her  divisions,  would  regard  His 
coming  as  an  undesirable  interference  with  her 
plans  of  spiritual  conquest. 

Mr.  Andrews  was  not  therefore  surprised  that, 
after  more  than  a  half-century  of  trial,  the  work 
carried  on  by  the  Apostles,  and  which  commended 
itself  to  him  more  and  more  each  year  as  a  true 
work  of  God,  should  remain  both  as  to  its  facts  and 
principles  unknown  to  a  large  majority  of  Christian 
believers.  And  even  in  those  parts  where  many 
congregations  had  been  gathered,  it  was  by  the  re- 
ligious leaders  almost  wholly  ignored,  or  contemp- 
tuously spoken  of.  Neither  as  to  its  principles  or  its 
history  did  he  find  any  just  or  impartial  estimate  of 
it.  As  principles  are  to  be  judged  of  by  their  truth, 
not  by  the  number  of  those  who  accept  them,  Mr. 
Andrews  had  good  ground  for  expecting  that  the 
principles  publicly  set  forth  in  the  Apostolic  Testi- 


Last  Years  and  Death  185 

monies  would  be  fairly  considered,  and  if  false,  their 
falsity  exposed;  but  no  one  had  done  this.  Nor 
had  any  one  made  any  statement  as  to  the  history 
of  the  work,  its  origin  and  progress,  which  could  be 
accepted  as  accurate  and  trustworthy. 

The  same  silence  he  noticed  in  regard  to  the  wor- 
ship of  the  apostolic  congregations.  A  diligent  stu- 
dent of  liturgies,  he  believed  that  prepared  by  the 
Apostles  to  hold  the  first  place  from  whatever  point 
of  view  regarded,  whether  as  to  its  order,  the  ful- 
ness and  unity  of  its  services,  the  comprehensiveness 
of  its  prayers,  the  reverent  administration  of  ordi- 
nances, its  use  of  symbols  —  in  a  word,  a  Catholic 
Liturgy  giving  the  highest  expression  to  the  spirit 
of  worship.  It  was  to  him  very  significant  that  in 
all  the  liturgical  discussions  of  the  day  it  was,  so  far 
as  he  knew,  scarcely  once  mentioned. 

i3ut  whilst  Mr.  Andrews  saw  so  much  tending  to 
dishearten  him, — the  apostoHc  work  being  so  gener- 
ally rejected, —  he  saw  also  in  passing  events  the 
proof  that  God  is  preparing  by  His  Spirit  the  way 
for  His  Son  and  His  kingdom.  In  some  quarters 
he  saw  a  growing  consciousness  that  the  present 
condition  of  the  Church,  with  her  many  divisions  and 
hostilities  and  heresies,  not  only  unfits  her  for  her 
work  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  but  provokes  the 
wrath  of  God,  and  is  a  great  burden  on  the  heart  of 
her  Head.  He  rejoiced  to  see  a  growing  desire  for 
unity,  though  he  expected  little  practical  result  from 
the  attempts  of  the  long-separated  parts  to  unite 
themselves  without  the  action  of  the  Head  through 
the  ministries  sent  by  Him  for  this  end.  He  noted 
also  the  increasing  number  of  those  studying  the 


1 86        William  Watson  Andrews 

prophetic  Scriptures  that  they  might  learn  the 
Divine  purpose  in  man  as  revealed ;  and  the  grow- 
ing belief  that  the  last  days  would  be  perilous  times, 
and  that  the  tares,  as  well  as  the  wheat,  are  rapidly 
ripening  for  the  harvest. 

He  saw  also  much  higher  conceptions  of  the 
Church  as  the  Body  of  Christ  gradually  making  way, 
and  the  old  distinction,  as  to  its  constitution,  its 
ministries  and  ordinances,  between  the  extraordinary 
and  the  ordinary,  the  transient  and  permanent,  pass- 
ing away  as  without  warrant  in  the  Scriptures. 

It  was  evident  to  him  that  thoughtful  men, 
alarmed  at  the  continual  disintegration  of  spiritual 
bonds,  were  beginning  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the 
Body  of  Christ  is  an  organic  structure,  organized 
of  God  in  infinite  wisdom ;  and  that  only  as  He 
constituted  it,  can  it  do  His  work  and  the  work  of 
its  Head  in  the  world.  The  fact,  therefore,  ot  a 
Divine  interposition  and  of  its  restoration  is  now  in 
the  minds  of  not  a  few  ceasing  to  be  regarded  as 
unnecessary  or  incredible. 

He  had  also  much  comfort  in  knowing  that  the 
work  in  which  he  took  so  profound  an  interest, 
was  continually  extending  itself  in  Christendom ; 
though,  like  a  fire  kindled  in  green  wood,  it  spread 
but  slowly.  His  ministry  had  shown  him  that  God 
is  preparing  many  in  secret  for  the  coming  of  His 
Son,  although  they  know  it  not,  as  He  had  prepared 
some  in  the  Jewish  Church  to  receive  the  Baptist; 
cleansing  them  and  teaching  them  by  His  Spirit, 
that  they  may  be  His  helpers  in  the  great  contest  at 
hand.  As  he  saw  the  forces  of  the  Antichrist  com- 
ing more  clearly  into  view,  he  was  not  fearful,  for 


Last  Years  and  Death  187 

he  saw  also  that  the  Lord  would  not  want  His  wit- 
nesses, His  men  of  might,  who  would  put  on  the 
whole  armor  of  God,  and  conquer  in  the  evil  day. 
His  faith  in  God's  present  work  did  not  rest  in  the 
number  of  believers,  for  he  had  known  from  the  first 
that  the  work  as  now  carried  on  is  provisional  and 
temporary.  When  its  end  had  been  reached  —  the 
gathering  and  preparation  of  the  company  of  first- 
fruits —  a  new  form  of  the  Lord's  actings  would 
begin ;  and  one  which  would  affect  the  whole 
Church  in  all  its  divisions.  The  first-fruits  must  be 
plucked  singly  by  the  hand,  one  here  and  one  there; 
but  the  harvest  would  be  reaped  with  the  sickle. 

Deeply  interested  in  watching  these  various  move- 
ments within  the  Church  and  in  the  world,  studying 
the  Scriptures,  ministering  as  he  was  called  to  the 
sick  and  distressed,  keeping  up  a  large  correspond- 
ence with  his  friends,  and  occasionally  preaching 
and  teaching  in  the  church  at  Hartford,  the  last 
years  of  his  life  glided  swiftly  and  gently  by.  The 
progress  of  the  Lord's  work  at  home  and  in  other 
lands  occupied  him  much.  The  subject  of  Worship 
was  a  favorite  theme  of  his  meditations,  and  his 
Essay  upon  it  received  almost  daily  some  additions 
or  corrections.  But  this  he  did  not  complete,  be- 
cause he  was  never  wholly  satisfied  with  it,  and 
wished  to  make  it  more  worthy  of  publication.  In 
him  was  illustrated  the  German  proverb,  that  "  the 
best  is  the  enemy  of  the  good."  Striving  to  reach 
his  ideal,  death  came  upon  him  with  his  pen  still  in 
his  hand.  He  never  ceased  his  Biblical  studies,  and 
his  notes  on  some  parts  of  both  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments would  suffice  to  make  a  large  commentary. 


1 88        William  Watson  Andrews 

Yet  while  the  great  world-movements  went  on, 
and  were  carefully  noted  by  him,  his  eyes  were  not 
fastened  upon  them,  nor  his  spirit  agitated  by  them. 
Time  and  the  progress  of  events  only  confirmed  his 
belief  in  the  Divine  origin  and  continued  guidance 
of  the  work  in  which  he  had  been  so  long  engaged. 
He  looked  up  into  the  heavenly  region  where  was 
the  risen  Lord,  the  Great  High  Priest,  and  his  heart 
partook  of  the  calm  of  the  Holy  Place.  He  joined 
in  spirit  in  the  intercession  ever  ascending  from  the 
golden  altar.  Though  in  the  winter  of  his  age, 
there  was  the  glow  of  summer  in  his  heart.  With 
the  years  the  fruits  of  life  ripened  and  mellowed, 
and  its  autumnal  flowers  preserved  their  fragrance 
and  bloom. 

Although  Mr.  Andrews  in  his  capacity  of  evangel- 
ist often  spent  weeks  and  even  months  in  different 
parts  of  America  and  in  England,  he  passed  the 
larger  part  of  the  last  forty  years  of  his  life  in 
Wethersfield.  His  peculiar  ecclesiastical  position, 
while  it  brought  with  it  some  difficulties,  also 
brought  some  advantages;  for,  standing  apart  from 
the  various  denominations  around  him,  yet,  through 
his  recognition  of  the  unity  of  the  Church,  he  looked 
upon  all  as  his  Christian  brethren  whom  he  was 
bound  so  far  as  possible  to  uphold  and  to  aid.  He 
never  in  any  way  interfered  with  the  pastoral  work 
of  the  several  pastors  in  the  town,  or  took  upon  him 
any  pastoral  duties,  for  these  did  not  belong  to  him  ; 
but  as  a  Christian  brother  he  felt  at  liberty  to  visit 
the  sick  who  desired  to  see  him,  and  to  give  instruc- 
tion as  it  was  sought. 

When  at  home  on  Sundays  he  often  preached  by 


Last  Years  and  Death  '189 

request,  oftenest  in  the  Congregational  church, 
choosing  such  themes  as  he  thought  would  be  most 
to  the  edification  of  the  congregation.  He  was 
often  present  at  the  weekly  evening  prayer-meetings, 
sometimes  taking  part.  At  one  period  he  conducted 
at  his  own  house  a  Bible  class.  As  the  years  passed 
and  he  became  better  known  in  the  community 
around  him,  he  was  more  and  more  sent  for  to  visit 
the  sick  and  dying,  and  to  offer  a  prayer  or  make 
an  address  at  funerals.  His  unselfish  interest  in 
others,  his  largeness  of  heart,  and  warm  sympathy 
with  all,  made  him  a  welcome  visitor  in  every  house. 

But  it  is  to  be  noted  that  although  he  lived  for  so 
long  a  time  among  successive  clergymen  in  the  town 
of  at  least  five  denominations,  he  always  preserved 
the  most  friendly  relations  with  all, — a  harmony 
which,  so  far  as  is  known,  was  never  in  any  single 
instance  broken.  This  was  due  in  part  to  his  sin- 
gular sweetness  of  disposition ;  but  more  to  the 
enlargement  of  love  wrought  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  embraced  all  who  bore  the  name  of  Christ, 
and  were  doing,  even  in  a  most  imperfect  way.  His 
work  in  the  world.  He  did  not  hide  his  belief  as  to 
the  evil  condition  of  the  Church,  impaired  in  its 
ministries,  and  the  dangers  impending  ;  but  he 
would  encourage  every  man  to  stand  fast  in  the 
truth  which  he  held,  and  fight  the  good  fight  of 
faith. 

Of  the  six  successive  pastors  of  the  Congregational 
church  during  Mr.  Andrews'  long  residence  in 
Wethersfield,  several  have  given  willing  testimony 
to  the  value  of  his  influence  over  its  members,  and 
that  he  had  been  to  themselves  a  help  and  strength. 


190        William  Watson  Andrews 

And  here  may  be  inserted  the  following  testimonial 
in  the  list  of  the  clergy  given  in  the  Manual  of  the 
First  Congregational  CJmrch  in  WetJiersfield,  1893: 

"  Mention  may  be  made,  also,  of  Rev.  W.  W.  Andrews, 
for  more  than  thirty  years  a  resident  of  Wethersfield, 
and  still  with  us.  Connected  indeed  with  another  church 
organization,  yet  a  lover  of  the  Church  of  God  in  all  its 
forms,  his  genial  spirit  and  godly  life,  and  not  unfrequent 
ministerial  service  in  our  pulpit,  and  yet  oftener  at  the 
burial  of  our  dead,  has  been  a  perpetual  testimony  to 
the  truth  and  love  of  God,  and  has  brought  comfort  to 
many  sorrowing  ones.  Long  may  he  live  among  us, 
even,  if  it  please  God,  till  that  coming  of  our  Lord  for 
which  he  so  earnestly  waits  and  prays." 

Of  Mr.  Andrews  as  a  preacher  something  has 
already  been  incidentally  said.  He  was  always 
heard  with  interest,  although  often  moving  in  a 
region  of  thought  new  and  strange  to  many  of  his 
auditors;  for  he  could  not  wholly  resist  the  tempta- 
tion to  make  his  own  theological  and  Biblical  know- 
ledge a  measure  of  the  knowledge  of  others.  His 
voice,  as  described  by  one  who  often  heard  him, 
"  was  particularly  soft,  but  clear  and  penetrating,  of 
remarkable  sweetness  when  expressing  sympathy 
and  love,  yet  full  of  fire  when  the  word  spoken  was 
one  of  warning  or  rebuke."  In  his  prime  he  had  a 
just  claim  to  the  epithet  eloquent.  A  distinguished 
professor  in  one  of  our  colleges  writes,  that  the  most 
eloquent  sermon  he  ever  heard  was  preached  by  him. 

He  wrote  his  sermons  and  addresses  generally  in 
full,  but  in  their  delivery  seldom  confined  himself 
to  his  manuscript,  and  was  most  impressive  when, 


Last  Years  and  Death  191 

breaking  away  from  what  he  had  written,  he  gave 
himself  up  to  the  inspiration  of  the  moment.  It 
was  said  by  one  who  often  heard  him,  that  he  had 
been  present  when  he  preached  to  a  Httle  congrega- 
tion of  a  dozen  persons  for  an  hour  without  any 
notes,  yet  with  an  order  distinct  and  clear  and 
logical,  and  with  every  sentence  so  perfect  in  its 
form  that  it  might  have  been  printed  without  re- 
vision. And  this  was  not  an  uncommon  occurrence. 
At  one  time,  after  preaching  to  the  students  of 
Yale  College,  one  of  the  professors  said  to  him: 
"  How  is  it,  Mr.  Andrews,  that  your  sermons  always 
grow  out  of  your  texts,  as  a  plant  from  the  seed, 
while  the  rest  of  us  take  a  text  and  stick  our 
thoughts  to  it  as  best  we  can  ?  " 

Even  after  he  had  passed  threescore  and  ten,  he 
was  able  above  most  men  to  rouse  and  interest  a 
congregation.  It  was  noted  that  the  last  time  he 
preached,  a  few  weeks  before  his  death,  he  laid  his 
manuscript  on  the  desk  beside  him,  and  spoke  with 
much  energy  and  with  wonted  fluency,  without 
making  any  use  of  it. 

As  a  citizen  he  regularly  discharged  his  duty  by 
voting,  usually  with  the  Republican  party  because 
of  its  attitude  on  the  matter  of  slavery.  But  he  was 
not  so  bound  by  party  trammels  as  to  give  up  his 
full  liberty  of  judgment  and  action.  In  the  social 
life  of  the  town,  in  all  matters  of  education,  the 
conduct  of  the  schools,  the  formation  of  a  village 
library,  and  of  a  reading  society,  Mr.  Andrews  was 
much  interested;  and  in  the  questions  bearing  on 
these  points  when  discussed  in  the  town  meeting, 
he  often  took  part. 


192        William  Watson  Andrews 

As  might  have  been  expected  from  his  catholic 
spirit,  Mr.  Andrews  was  on  terms  of  friendship,  and 
in  some  cases  of  close  intimacy,  with  the  clergymen 
of  Hartford  and  of  the  towns  around.  He  attended 
with  much  regularity  the  clerical  Monday  morning 
meetings,  open  to  all,  where  topics  of  religious  in- 
terest were  discussed ;  and,  as  said  by  one  of  its 
members,  he  was  always  called  upon  to  add  to  the 
interest  of  its  discussions,  which  he  often  did,  con- 
sidering the  subject  from  a  new  and  larger  point  of 
view,  and  his  summing  up  was  a  model  of  clear  and 
candid  statement. 

Of  his  membership  in  the  Liturgical  Club  mention 
has  already  been  made,  and  of  his  occasional  attend- 
ance at  the  meetings  of  "  The  Central  Association." 
The  preparation  of  papers  to  be  read  before  them 
occupied  him  when  unable  to  perform  his  special 
evangelist  work. 

A  member  of  this  Association  writes  of  Mr.  An- 
drews, that  he  "  always  took  part,  when  present,  in 
the  discussion.  His  utterances  were  always  exceed- 
ingly valuable;  they  were  mature,  judicial,  and 
spiritual.  The  spiritual  quality  of  the  man  im- 
pressed us  most.  His  very  presence  was  a  blessing 
to  the  meeting;  he  gave  it  an  atmosphere  of  spirit- 
uality. Quite  frequently  his  opinions  were  not  in 
perfect  accord  with  those  expressed  by  others,  but 
never  a  word  escaped  from  his  lips  in  my  hearing 
which  was  not  spoken  with  such  charity  and  such 
reverence  for  everything  sacred,  that  we  listened 
and  were  fed  spiritually,  whatever  the  disagreement 
with  the  thing  said.  I  need  not  allude  to  the  purity 
and  grace  of  his  language.      He  added  very  much 


Last  Years  and  Death  193 

to  the  helpfulness  of  the  meetings  by  what  he  said, 
but  he  gave  more  by  his  presence.  He  was  more 
than  he  could  say." 

During  the  last  ten  years  of  Mr.  Andrews'  life  in 
Wethersfield  he  was  able  to  preach  frequently,  but 
gave  up  in  good  part  his  evangelist  work  at  a  dis- 
tance. He  was,  however,  in  the  main  free  from 
illness  and  serious  physical  infirmity,  his  sight  and 
hearing  being  but  little  impaired,  and  his  mind  re- 
mained as  clear  and  active  as  ever.  He  maintained 
a  large  official  and  other  correspondence,  and  was 
accustomed  to  spend  many  hours  at  his  desk, 
writing  letters  of  advice,  sympathy,  and  condolence, 
in  his  characteristically  simple  and  graceful  style. 
During  this  period  he  frequently  wrote  articles  for 
Hartford  newspapers,  the  Times  and  the  Courant, 
from  which  some  quotations  have  been  already 
made.' 

With  reference  to  death,  which  in  the  course  of 
nature  could  not  be  far  distant,  Mr.  Andrews  stood 
in  the  same  position  as  St.  Paul,  who  knew  death  to 
be  "  the  wages  of  sin,"  which  had  "  passed  upon 

'  The  editor  of  the  Hartford  Times,  after  Mr.  Andrews'  death, 
wrote  of  him  :  "  Readers  of  the  Times  especially  will  remember  his 
sharp,  clean-cut,  incisive  defense  of  theological  dogmas  which  he 
conceived  to  have  been,  directly  or  indirectly,  publicly  assailed. 
His  contributions  were  always  welcome,  and  were  always  marked 
by  ability."  The  Times,  in  an  editorial  letter  to  Mr.  Andrews, 
1889,  said:  "We  always  appreciate  the  clearness  and  force  with 
which  you  present  your  case  in  any  argument,  but  most  of  all  your 
thorough  sincerity."  The  writer  adds  :  "I  have  learned  to  value 
sincerity,  together  with  that  other  related  quality,  moral  courage. 
There  is  a  lack  of  this,  far,  far  too  common."  The  Courant  speaks 
of  him  as  a  contributor  "with  a  command  of  virile  and  clear-cut 
English,  who  was  graceful  as  well  as  strong  in  his  written  work." 
13 


194        William  Watson  Andrews 

all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned  "  ;  but  who  looked 
for  the  risen  Lord,  if  so  be  that  he  should  not  see 
death,  and  be  one  of  those  who  should  pass  from 
mortality  to  immortality  at  His  return.  Like  the 
Apostle,  he  would  not  be  "  unclothed,  but  clothed 
upon,  that  mortality  might  be  swallowed  up  of  life." 
But  if  the  Lord  delayed  His  coming,  and  his  own 
work  was  done,  and  the  infirmities  of  years  were  be- 
coming a  heavy  burden,  he  could  say  with  the  same 
Apostle, — "For  me  to  die  is  gain."  Whether 
death  or  the  Lord  should  come  first,  he  did  not 
know,  nor  did  he  anxiously  inquire.  He  was  in  the 
hand  of  One  who  loved  him,  and  he  could  lie  down 
in  peace  to  rest  in  the  bosom  of  his  Lord,  if  this  were 
His  will. 

Mr.  Andrews  had  not  for  months  seemed  better 
or  stronger  than  during  the  last  few  weeks  of  his 
life.  At  the  earnest  request  of  his  son  Charles,  he 
undertook  early  in  October,  1897,  a  trip  to  Bryn 
Mawr,  near  Philadelphia,  a  journey  of  more  than 
two  hundred  miles;  and  while  there  baptized  his 
granddaughter,  a  child  a  little  over  four  months 
old.  He  bore  the  journey  remarkably  well,  and 
seemed  to  draw  great  enjoyment  from  his  visit.  It 
is  probable,  however,  that  the  journey  and  the 
excitement  incident  to  it  wore  upon  his  failing 
strength.  Two  days  after  his  return  to  Wethers- 
field,  he  was  seized  with  the  illness  which  terminated 
in  his  death,  October  17,  1897,  in  his  eighty-eighth 
year. 

Lovely  as  had  been  his  old  age,  nothing  could 
have  been  more  beautiful  or  in  more  perfect  harmony 
with  his  whole  hfe  than  the  manner  of  his  death. 


Last  Years  and  Death  195 

Free  from  pain,  after  a  sickness  of  but  five  days,  he 
departed  in  peace.  On  Sunday  evening  he  received 
the  last  rites  of  the  Church,  and  made  the  responses 
with  a  distinct  voice,  and  evidently  with  full  con- 
sciousness of  their  meaning.  His  friends  left  him 
after  the  service,  with  the  hope  and  expectation  of 
seeing  him  the  next  day.  An  hour  or  two  later 
he  asked  what  time  it  was ;  and  being  told  that  it 
was  ten  o'clock,  he  said:  "  Then  good-night  all." 
These  were  his  last  words.  In  a  few  moments  he 
passed  away,  quietly  and  peacefully. 

The  funeral  was  held  on  October  20th,  in  the 
Congregational  church  in  Wethersfield,  and  was 
largely  attended  by  the  townspeople,  and  others 
from  abroad.  The  services  were  conducted  by  the 
Rev.  J.  A.  R.  Rogers  of  the  Catholic  Apostolic 
Church  in  Hartford,  and  addresses  were  made  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  P.  Parker  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel 
Hart.     The  address  of  Dr.  Hart  follows. 

When  the  news  of  Mr.  Andrews'  death  reached 
his  old  parish  in  Kent,  a  meeting  of  the  church  was 
held,  and  the  following  minute  made  on  the  records : 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  Church  held  at  the  close  of  the 
morning  service,  the  following  resolutions  were  adopted 
and  ordered  to  be  spread  upon  the  records  of  the  Church, 
by  a  unanimous  vote  : 

"  It  is  with  sincerest  heartfelt  sorrow  that  the  members 
of  the  First  Congregational  Church  of  Kent,  Conn.,  have 
heard  of  the  death  of  their  former  pastor,  the  Rev.  W.  W, 
Andrews.  To  the  older  ones  it  comes  as  a  direct  personal 
loss.     He  has  long  stood  as  a  model  to  them  of  all  which 


196        William  Watson  Andrews 

was  pure  and  sweet  in  life.  Many  of  those  who  are 
younger  have  learned  to  reverence  him  as  one  who,  get- 
ting very  near  his  Master,  learned  the  secret  of  being  a 
helpful  friend  to  all  with  whom  he  had  to  do.  Such  a 
life  should  be  an  inspiration  to  all.  To  the  members  of 
his  family  we  send  our  loving  sympathy  in  their  afflic- 
tion, sharing  with  them  in  the  comfort  which  comes 
from  the  knowledge  that  for  him  to  die  is  gain. 
"  By  direction  of  the  Church, 

"  H.  H.  Spooner, 
George  Hopson,  ^  Committee. 
R.  J.  Hopson, 

"Kent,  Conn.,  Oct.  31,  1897." 


CHAPTER  XIII 


TRIBUTE   TO    MR.    ANDREWS 


AT  the  funeral  of  the  Rev.  W,  W.  Andrews,  in 
Wethersfield,  the  following  address  was  made 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Hart  : 

"  The  children,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  ought  not  to  lay  up 
for  the  parents,  but  the  parents  for  the  children."  I 
come  to-day  in  answer  to  one  of  those  calls  which  fill 
men  with  sorrow,  and  which  yet  they  may  not  neglect, 
with  much  of  a  child's  hesitation  and  a  child's  affection, 
to  bear  testimony  that  a  father  has  indeed  in  a  long  and 
blessed  life  laid  up  and  provided  for  others.  As  a  child 
in  years  compared  with  his,  I  learned  to  respect  the  age 
which  had  every  title  to  respect;  as  a  child  in  study,  I 
listened  to  the  words  which  commended  themselves  for 
sound  judgment  and  clear  argument;  as  a  child  in  char- 
acter, I  saw  a  pattern  of  gentleness  and  purity  which  re- 
flected the  life  of  the  Master.  For  a  long  time  several 
of  the  ministers  of  the  neighborhood,  who  had  been 
brought  up  in  different  ways  of  looking  at  God's  truth, 
and  who  had  differing  convictions  as  to  some  parts  of 
that  truth,  were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  regularly,  at  first 
to  study  the  book  of  Revelation,  and  then  to  inquire  into 
various  questions  more  or  less  closely  connected  with  the 

197 


198        William  Watson  Andrews 

great  subject  of  Divine  worship.  There  was  great  differ- 
ence in  our  interpretation  of  God's  word  contained  in 
the  closing  book  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  there  was  almost 
equal  difference  of  judgment  as  to  the  meaning  or  the 
importance  of  some  matters  connected  with  worship,  or 
even  as  to  the  principles  involved  in  it.  We  who  were 
young  in  study  and  younger  in  experience  must  have 
tried  the  patience  of  those  who  had  long  pondered  upon 
these  things  and  seen  them  as  part  of  a  great  system  of 
faith  and  practice;  and  I  am  sure  that  we  sometimes 
grieved  them  when  we  did  not  accept  their  conclusions. 
He  to  whom  I  am  permitted  now  to  bear  this  humble 
tribute  was  our  Nestor,  our  Porson,  our  St.  John;  he 
was  the  man  of  greatest  experience,  of  deepest  study,  of 
most  lofty  thought,  and  withal  of  most  true  love  to  the 
Master;  he  taught  us  without  knowing  that  he  was  our 
teacher,  while  we  too  thought  that  he  was  but  a  fellow- 
student.  He  gave  more  than  due  weight  to  all  that  we 
said  or  suggested;  he  seemed  almost  to  think  that  he 
must  be  in  the  wrong  when  we  had  come  to  a  conclusion 
adverse  to  his ;  he  found  no  fault  when  we  held  tenaciously 
to  what  he  confidently  believed  to  be  erroneous.  And 
thus  we  read  lessons  of  what  was  of  even  more  value  than 
the  interpretation  of  some  vexed  passage  of  Scripture  or 
the  determination  of  the  meaning  of  some  fact  of  sacred 
history;  we  saw  that  combination  of  wisdom  and  gentle- 
ness, of  conviction  and  patience,  of  goodness  and  con- 
sideration, which  marks  the  man  of  God.  He  was  a 
parent  laying  up  for  the  children. 

Of  course  I  do  not  mean  to  speak  as  if  these  noble 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart  were  shown  in  this  good  man 
at  no  other  time  than  when  others  talked  with  him  about 
"  the  things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  God."  I 
marked  them  at  other  times,  and  I  know  that  family  and 
friends  and  neighbors  marked  them  wherever  he  was  and 


Tribute  to  Mr.  Andrews  199 

■whatever  he  did.  The  life,  as  I  came  to  know  it,  was  a 
quiet  life,  but  its  purity  and  its  wisdom  and  its  persua- 
siveness were  known.  It  was  said  of  an  eminent  scholar 
who  had  been  prominent  in  the  life  of  a  university,  that 
even  after  the  infirmities  of  age  kept  him  within  doors 
so  that  few  ever  saw  him,  his  influence  was  still  very 
great;  for  men  knew  that  there  was  a  man  living  in  the 
corner  of  the  quadrangle  who  was  competent  to  pass  a 
judgment  upon  the  troublesome  questions  of  the  day, 
and  that  he  was  sure  that  they  could  be  answered  from 
his  standpoint  of  religious  truth.  I  think  that  it  has 
been  largely  so  with  this  community  and  this  neighbor- 
hood. We  have  known  that  there  was  one  among  us 
who  was  not  afraid  to  look  at  any  hard  question  that 
might  be  asked,  who  was  not  daunted  by  insinuations 
that  his  beliefs  were  ill-grounded  or  out  of  date,  who  was 
glad  to  give  an  intelligent  reason  at  any  time  for  the  faith 
that  was  in  him.  And  we  were  wont  to  see  in  the  public 
press,  over  the  well-known  initials  of  his  name,  articles, 
sometimes  in  defense  of  fundamental  verities,  and  some- 
times as  to  his  convictions  of  the  meaning  of  present 
events  and  his  hopes  of  the  future.  His  words  were  as 
strong  as  they  were  gentle;  and  in  that  beautiful  sim- 
plicity and  clearness  of  style  in  which  he  excelled,  he  at 
least  took  care  that  men  might  "  know  we  have  not 
loosely,  through  silence,  permitted  things  to  pass  away 
as  in  a  dream."  I  verily  believe  that  many  men  and 
women  owe  to  these,  his  pointed  words,  a  reconsideration 
of  their  position,  a  strengthening  of  their  faith  in  God 
and  in  His  orderings,  a  hope  that  can  only  be  fulfilled 
by  the  accomplishing  of  His  great  purposes.  We  all 
knew  that  his  words  were  well  weighed;  we  all  knew 
that  there  was  truth  in  them;  we,  too,  all  were  helped 
by  them. 

And  if  there  was  any  impatience  in  his  heart,  I  think 


200        William  Watson  Andrews 

it  was  that  holy  impatience  which  longs  to  have  God's 
kingdom  come  and  God's  will  be  done.  I  remember 
well  how,  as  we  came  out  together  some  years  ago  from 
the  service  at  the  funeral  of  a  good  man  who  had  been  a 
teacher  of  sacred  truth,  he  said  to  me  that  every  such 
service  filled  him  with  grief,  and  I  think  he  said  with 
anger,  because  it  showed  that  the  hand  of  death,  God's 
great  enemy,  was  still  prevailing  against  His  saints,  and 
that  the  time  of  victory  was  still  deferred.  If  ever  man 
lived  a  life  of  happy  service  to  God,  I  think  it  was  he; 
none  could,  I  am  sure,  have  known  better  the  blessed- 
ness of  life  here  in  the  knowledge  of  God's  truth;  but 
the  happiness  of  which  he  thought  most  was  the  happi- 
ness to  which  he  looked  forward.  He  did  not,  as  he 
hoped  he  might,  and  as  I  think  the  Apostle  taught  us  all 
that  we  ought  to  hope  for  ourselves,  "  remain  unto  the 
coming  of  the  Lord  ";  but  in  the  Church  expectant  —  a 
far  larger  body,  we  must  needs  remember,  than  the 
Church  militant  in  which  our  lot  is  still  cast  —  he  awaits 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead  and  the  life  of  the  world  to 
come.  We  joy  in  the  knowledge  of  the  light  and  the  rest 
of  paradise;  we  look  forward  to  the  day  when  the  saints, 
perfected  and  sanctified,  shall  have  the  unveiled  vision 
of  eternal  truth  and  glory. 


APPENDIX 

I.— STATEMENT   OF   REASONS  READ  TO 

THE  NORTH  CONSOCIATION  OF 

LITCHFIELD  COUNTY,  CONN. 

By  William  Watson  Andrews 

ON   WITHDRAWING   FROM   THE   CONGREGATIONAL   MINISTRY, 
MAY    15,    1849 

DEAR  BRETHREN:— You  have  been  convened 
at  my  request,  in  accordance  with  the  forms  of 
our  Constitution,  that  I  may  ask  you  to  release 
me  from  my  present  pastoral  charge.  I  make  this  re- 
quest, not  because  of  any  alienation  of  the  hearts  of  the 
people  from  me,  or  of  any  dissensions  amongst  them- 
selves, such  as  to  justify  such  a  step;  for  I  would  bear 
testimony  to  their  strong  and  enduring  attachment,  and 
to  the  general  peacefulness  and  harmony  which  have 
marked  the  whole  time  of  my  ministry.  Nothing  has 
occurred  at  all  to  weaken  my  affection  for  them,  and  I 
feel  how  painful  it  will  be  to  be  separated  from  the  flock 
to  whom  my  whole  pastoral  life  hitherto  has  been 
dedicated. 

Nor  do  I  consider  myself  to  be  acting  contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  the  Letter  addressed  by  the  Consociation  to  the 
Churches  some  years  ago,  in  which  the  permanency  of 

201 


202        William  Watson  Andrews 

the  pastoral  relation  was  strongly  insisted  on,  as  I  trust 
will  appear  from  the  nature  of  the  request  itself. 

I  ask  to  be  released  from  my  present  ministry,  with  no 
expectation  of  laboring  elsewhere  under  the  authority 
which  I  now  hold  as  an  ordained  Congregational  clergy- 
man; but  that  I  may  give  myself  to  another  and  very 
different  work,  which  God  is  now  carrying  forward  in 
fulfilment  of  his  promise  to  rebuild  His  Church.  It  is 
many  years  since  I  heard  with  joy  of  the  revival  of  the 
supernatural  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  land  of  our 
fathers.  Such  an  interposition  of  God  in  a  time  of  great 
spiritual  decay  and  abounding  ungodliness,  and  full  of 
the  signs  of  approaching  judgment,  seemed  to  give  such 
promise  of  deliverance  to  the  Church  that  I  could  not, 
as  many  did,  reject  the  report  without  examination.  I 
saw  from  the  Scriptures  that  the  promise  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  was  without  limitation,  and  that  there  was  nothing 
presumptuous  in  desiring  and  praying  for  those  spiritual 
manifestations  which  made  the  primitive  age  so  glorious. 
And  all  that  I  could  learn  of  the  gifts  alleged  to  be  now 
revived — as  the  truth  and  holiness  expressed  in  prophetic 
utterances,  and  the  general  zeal  and  faithfulness  of  those 
who  recognized  in  them  the  voice  of  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  —  gradually  led  me  to  the  conviction  that  God  was 
truly  reviving  His  ancient  work,  and  beginning  to  deliver 
His  flock  from  the  desolations  of  many  generations. 
The  light  that  has  since  come  to  me  from  many  sources 
—  first  from  correspondence  and  personal  intercourse 
with  eye  and  ear  witnesses  of  these  things,  and  then  from 
visits  to  the  churches  where  the  Holy  Ghost  v.as  thus 
manifesting  Himself — has  continually  strengthened  this 
conviction;  and  now,  as  for  many  years  past,  I  feel  no 
doubt  as  to  the  reality  and  Divine  origin  of  supernatural 
workings  in  the  Church,  in  these  last  days  of  the  world's 
history. 


Statement  of  Reasons  203 

But  the  mere  reviving  of  spiritual  gifts  in  another  part 
of  Christendom  would,  of  itself,  furnish  no  justification 
of  such  a  step  as  I  am  now  taking;  because  we  should 
rather  seek  and  obtain  them  for  ourselves,  as  a  part  of 
the  one  Body  having  the  one  Spirit.  That  which  gives 
to  this  work  of  the  Lord  its  true  character  and  binding 
force  upon  the  Church,  is  the  restoration  of  those  minis- 
tries of  Apostle,  Prophet,  Evangelist,  and  Pastor,  which 
He  gave  on  His  ascension  to  the  Father,  for  the  work  of 
the  ministry,  and  the  edifying  of  the  Body  of  Christ; 
through  the  loss  of  which,  division,  blindness,  and 
spiritual  death  have  been  the  standing  reproach  of 
Christendom;  and  which  He  promised  to  restore  in  the 
day  when  He  should  purge  away  the  dross  of  His  people, 
giving  our  judges  as  at  the  first,  and  our  counsellors  as 
at  the  beginning.  (Isai.  i.  25,  26.)  Through  the  Holy 
Spirit  sp.eaking  by  Prophets,  He  has  again  called  men  to 
the  various  offices  of  His  house,  and  has  thus  restored 
those  channels  of  His  grace  by  which  alone  His  people 
can  be  defended,  cleansed,  guided,  and  made  ready  for 
His  coming.  It  is  a  work,  therefore,  for  no  one  sect 
or  party,  but  for  the  Church  Catholic,  the  baptized  peo- 
ple of  God  in  every  land,  and  comes  with  claims  to  the 
recognition  and  obedience  of  all.  The  raising  up  of  the 
Apostleship,  the  highest  ministry  in  the  Church,  to  which 
alone  universal  jurisdiction  has  ever  been  committed  by 
the  Lord,  is  for  the  reuniting  of  His  scattered  and  deso- 
late people;  the  gathering  up  of  the  truth  now  broken 
into  fragments  through  schism,  and  holding  it  forth  in 
its  completeness  and  unity;  the  bringing  out  of  the  true 
order  of  God's  house  in  worship  and  discipline,  and  the 
imparting  of  those  spiritual  gifts  which  are  needful  to 
the  perfecting  of  the  saints. 

That  this  ministry  has  truly  been  restored,  and  is  now 
exercised  by  living  men — men  called  to  be  Apostles  by 


204        William  Watson  Andrews 

the  voice  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  even  as  Paul,  the  beginning 
and  type  of  the  Gentile  Apostleship,  was  separated  to  that 
office  in  Antioch  —  strange  and  startling  as  such  a  state- 
ment may  seem,  there  is  most  conclusive  evidence.  I 
know  how  easy  it  will  be  to  fix  the  stigma  of  fanaticism 
on  any  one  for  expressing  such  a  conviction;  and  I  can 
only  assure  my  brethren  that  it  is  the  result  of  the  most 
patient  and  laborious  examination  of  the  subject  under  all 
possible  aspects,  and  the  trial  of  the  claim  by  every  Scrip- 
tural test,  in  the  clear  discernment  of  the  momentous  con- 
sequences involved  in  the  decision.  Restored  to  the 
Church  in  the  hour  of  her  weakness,  and  necessarily 
partaking  of  that  weakness,  the  Apostolic  Ministry  has 
proved  itself  to  be  of  God,  by  the  full  and  powerful 
teaching  of  the  truth,  the  right  ordering  of  worship  and 
rule,  and  the  fruits  of  the  Holy  Ghost  abundantly  seen 
in  the  congregations  submitting  to  their  authority. 
When  the  changed  circumstances  of  the  Church,  and 
the  different  nature  of  the  work  to  be  done  at  the  close 
of  a  dispensation,  are  borne  in  mind,  I  am  persuaded 
that  the  proofs  of  God's  presence  and  working  by 
Apostles  now  are  as  clear  as  in  the  beginning.  And 
why  should  it  seem  a  thing  incredible,  that  He  should 
thus  fulfil  His  promise,  and  that  at  a  time  when  the 
nations  are  full  of  distress,  and  perplexity,  and  fear  for 
the  things  which  are  coming  to  pass — certain  indications 
of  the  speedy  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  —  the 
ancient  ordinances  should  be  set  up  again  as  the  defenses 
of  His  people  ? 

I  ask,  then,  to  be  freed  from  my  present  pastoral 
duties,  that  I  may  serve  God  under  His  Apostles,  in 
obedience  to  His  call.  And  in  doing  this,  I  am  not 
casting  off  the  Church  of  my  fathers  and  brethren,  in 
which  I  have  been  nourished  and  blessed  hitherto,  and 
towards  which  I  feel  my  heart  drawn  in  continual  thank- 


Statement  of  Reasons  205 

fulness.  It  is  not  as  renouncing  or  condemning  it,  that 
I  now  resign  my  place;  but  that  I  may  take  a  position  in 
which  I  can  minister  more  largely  of  the  grace  and  bless- 
ing of  God  to  my  native  land.  His  desire  to  bless  His 
whole  Church,  and  the  restoration  of  His  ordinances,  is 
for  the  strengthening  of  the  things  that  remain  and  are 
ready  to  die,  and  for  the  lifting  of  all  in  every  place  into 
the  full  blessing  of  the  heavenly  calling.  And  if  it  be 
asked  why,  holding  such  convictions,  I  did  not  long  ago 
leave  my  present  ministry,  I  gladly  reply,  as  showing  the 
truly  catholic  character  of  God's  work — that  it  was  from 
a  recognition  of  our  Church  as  a  part  of  the  Lord's  flock, 
a  strong  conviction  of  the  sacredness  of  bonds  in  His 
sight  who  "  hateth  putting  away,"  and  a  desire  to  bear 
the  burden  of  their  desolation,  as  one  with  them  in  the 
evil,  and  so  to  hasten  their  deliverance.  You  will  bear 
me  witness  that  I  have  not  been  amongst  you  as  a 
fanatical  disturber  of  the  peace  of  the  churches,  but  that 
I  have  sought  to  uphold  the  hands  of  my  brethren,  and 
not  to  weaken  them,  and  to  use  the  remaining  ordinances 
of  the  Church  for  the  comfort  and  help  of  all. 

And  it  is  from  no  schismatical  spirit,  but  because  the 
time  has  come,  as  I  believe  from  every  indication  of  the 
Lord's  will,  when  I  can  effectually  serve  Him  only  in  an- 
other ministry,  that  I  now  present  to  you  my  request  to 
be  released  from  my  pastoral  charge  over  the  Church  in 
Kent,  the  same  to  take  effect  from  and  after  the  21st  of 
the  present  month.  And  as  I  assure  you  of  my  love  in 
our  common  Lord,  and  my  continual  longings  that  you 
may  be  filled  with  all  spiritual  blessings,  so  would  I  ask 
to  be  by  you  commended  to  the  grace  of  God. 


2.— SERMON   PREACHED  IN  KENT, 
CONN.,  MAY  20,  1849 

By  William  Watson  Andrews 

ON    WITHDRAWING    FROM    THE    CONGREGATIONAL   MINISTRY 

IT  is  known  to  you,  Brethren  and  Friends,  that  the 
Ecclesiastical  Council,  convened  here  last  week  at 
my  request,  dissolved  the  pastoral  relation  between 
us,  the  act  to  take  effect  on  the  21st  of  the  present  month, 
which  completes  the  fifteenth  year  of  my  residence 
amongst  you.  This  is  therefore  the  last  time  that  I  shall 
appear  before  you  as  your  pastor,  to  preach  to  you  the  Gos- 
pel of  God;  and  with  the  labors  of  this  day,  the  work  to 
which  my  whole  life  as  an  ordained  minister  of  Christ  has 
been  devoted,  of  feeding  this  flock,  and  watching  for  your 
souls,  will  be  forever  closed.  We  all  feel  that  there  is 
much  that  is  most  painful  and  most  solemn  in  such  a 
separation.  A  tie  so  holy,  and  cemented  by  so  many 
years  of  intimate  and  peaceful  communion,  cannot  be 
broken  without  awakening  many  regrets.  Few  attach- 
ments are  stronger  than  those  which  grow  up  silently  be- 
tween the  pastor  and  the  flock,  when  they  walk  together 
in  the  love  of  the  Lord  and  in  the  harmony  of  His  ways. 
And  grievous  as  our  short-comings  have  been,  dear 
brethren,  we  have  known  in  a  little  measure  what  it  is  to 
be  joined  together  in  the  truth,  and  to  have  the  fellow- 

206 


Farewell  Sermon  207 

ship  of  the  Spirit;  and  we  cannot  but  find  in  the  sunder- 
ing of  this  sacred  bond,  which  God  has  blessed  to  our 
mutual  edifying,  cause  for  heartfelt  sorrow. 

When,  moreover,  we  think  of  the  high  ends  for  which 
the  pastoral  ministry  was  ordained,  and  of  the  immeasur- 
able responsibilities  of  all  that  stand  in  it  and  under  it, 
for  speaking  and  hearing  the  word  of  God  aright,  we 
cannot  look  on  such  an  epoch  as  that  to  which  we  are 
now  arrived,  without  fear  and  trembling.  How  has  the 
message  been  borne  ?  How  has  it  been  received  ? 
What  have  been  its  fruits  ?  To  whom  has  it  been  a  savor 
of  life  unto  life  ?  To  whom  of  death  unto  death  ? 
Questions  these  which  cannot  be  evaded,  but  must  be 
met  and  answered, — if  not  now,  in  the  day  when  the 
secrets  of  all  hearts  shall  be  revealed.  I  am  responsible 
to  God  for  the  way  in  which  His  truth  has  been  declared, 
whether  faithfully  and  wisely,  in  His  fear,  and  not  in  the 
fear  of  man, —  or  with  cowardly  adulterations,  as  one 
daubing  with  untempered  mortar,  or  with  rash  novelties 
corrupting  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel;  and  you  are 
responsible  for  the  way  in  which  you  have  heard, 
whether  meekly  and  with  child-like  hungering  to  be  fed 
with  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word,  or  captiously  and  in 
the  spirit  of  judgment  seeking  to  take  offense,  and  to 
find  occasions  of  reproach.  I  am  not  to  judge  you, 
brethren:  the  Lord  will  judge  us  all  at  His  coming. 
But  I  would  on  this  the  last  day  of  my  ministry  unto 
you,  help  you  to  judge  righteously  of  that  which  I  have 
taught  you,  whether  it  is  the  very  truth  of  God  or  not, 
by  gathering  up  the  substance  of  my  ministrations  as 
fully  and  faithfully  as  I  can,  that  you  may  test  them  by 
the  holy  Scriptures. 

I  am  evil  spoken  of  as  having  taught  you  unsound  and 
unedifying  doctrine.  Had  I  done  so,  the  men  that  say 
it  should  long  ago  have  interposed  to  save  this  flock  from 


2o8        William  Watson  Andrews 

error,  and  have  pronounced  me  unworthy  of  being  a 
minister  of  Christ,  for  I  have  never  hidden  from  them 
the  things  which  I  have  taught  to  you.  But  they  say  it 
ignorantly  and  rashly,  of  one  who  cleaves  closely  to  the 
faith  borne  witness  to  by  the  Church  in  all  ages,  and 
who  has  ever  sought  to  be  a  faithful  interpreter  of  God's 
word,  rather  than  to  give  forth  his  own  speculations 
about  matters  which  the  natural  understanding  is  wholly 
incompetent  to  reach.  But  you  shall  judge  whether  it 
is  wrongfully  said,  as  I  speak  to  you  once  again,  out  of 
the  Scriptures,  of  those  great  themes  which  it  has  been 
the  aim  of  my  ministry  to  explain  and  enforce.  And  let 
it  be  your  earnest  desire  so  to  hear  this  day,  with  such 
readiness  of  heart  and  simplicity  of  faith,  that  you  may 
receive  all  that  is  true,  unto  the  honor  of  God,  and  your 
own  edifying. 

I  have  selected  as  the  basis  of  this  last  discourse,  the 
following  passage  from  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians: 

Eph.  iv.  1-6. —  "  I,  therefore,  the  prisoner  of  the 
Lord,  beseech  you  that  ye  walk  worthy  of  the  vocation 
wherewith  ye  are  called,  with  all  lowliness  and  meekness, 
with  long-suffering,  forbearing  one  another  in  love,  en- 
deavoring to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of 
peace.  There  is  one  body,  and  one  Spirit,  even  as  ye 
are  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling;  one  Lord,  one 
faith,  one  baptism;  one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is 
above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you  all." 

It  was  given  to  Paul,  as  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles 
out  of  whom  the  Church  was  chiefly  to  be  gathered,  to 
open  most  fully  the  great  mystery  of  godliness,  God 
manifest  in  flesh.  In  his  Epistles  is  to  be  found  the 
largest  and  clearest  exposition  of  the  nature  of  the  In- 
carnation, and  its  results  stretching  forward  into  the  ages 
to  come.  He  seems  to  have  been  lifted  up  into  a  higher 
region  of  discernment  than  any  of  the  Apostles,  as  to  the 


Farewell  Sermon  209 

standing  and  office  of  the  Church,  and  to  have  viewed  it 
in  more  direct  reference  to  the  eternal  purpose,  pur- 
posed in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  He  alone  speaks  of  it 
as  the  Body  of  Christ,  and  labors  to  express  the  greatness 
of  the  mystery  which  in  other  ages  was  not  made  known 
to  the  sons  of  men,  but  was  then  revealed,  to  the  intent 
that  unto  the  principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly  places 
might  be  known  by  the  Church  the  manifold  wisdom  of 
God.  It  is  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  especially 
that  he  struggles  with  the  grandeur  of  the  theme,  doing 
violence  to  language,  and  heaping  hyperbole  upon  hyper- 
bole, as  he  strives  to  make  them  apprehend  the  hope 
of  their  calling,  and  to  know  that  love  of  Christ  which 
overpasses  all  knowledge.  He  tells  them  of  the  riches 
of  the  glory  of  God's  inheritance  in  the  saints;  of  the 
exceeding  greatness  of  His  power  to  us-ward  who  believe, 
according  to  the  working  of  His  mighty  power  which  He 
wrought  in  Christ,  when  He  raised  Him  from  the  dead, 
and  set  Him  at  His  own  right  hand  in  the  heavenly 
places,  and  hath  put  all  things  under  His  feet,  and  gave 
Him  to  be  the  Head  over  all  things  to  the  Church,  which 
is  His  Body,  the  fulness  of  Him  that  filleth  all  in  all;  of 
their  being  built  upon  the  foundation  of  Apostles  and 
Prophets,  Jesus  Christ  Himself  being  the  chief  corner- 
stone, in  whom  all  the  building,  fitly  framed  together, 
groweth  unto  an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord;  and  of  the 
glory  to  the  Father  that  is  to  be  in  the  Church  by  Christ 
Jesus  throughout  all  ages,  world  without  end.  And  in 
our  text  he  brings  together  the  great  truths  which  are  un- 
folded in  the  Christian  dispensation,  under  the  form  of 
a  seven-fold  unity,  and  makes  them  the  groundwork  of 
an  exhortation  to  walk  worthy  of  their  calling,  with  all 
lowliness  and  meekness,  with  long-suffering,  and  the  for- 
bearance of  love.  Now,  as  in  parting  from  you,  dear 
brethren,  I  could  give  you  no  more  fitting  counsel  than 


2IO        William  Watson  Andrews 

this,  that  ye  endeavor  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in 
the  bond  of  peace,  so  I  cannot  embody  the  substance  of 
my  teachings  better  than  by  opening  this  pregnant  state- 
ment of  the  great  Apostle. 

There  is  one  Body.  A  body  is  a  living,  organized 
structure,  joined  to  a  head  with  which  it  has  a  common 
nature,  that  by  means  of  it  the  head  may  accomplish  its 
^purposes.  Where  there  is  a  radical  diversity  of  nature, 
there  can  be  no  real  unity  between  the  head  and  the 
body.  They  cannot  constitute  one  whole.  In  calling 
the  Church  the  Body  of  Christ,  it  is  therefore  implied 
that  they  are  both  partakers  of  one  nature.  But  Christ, 
as  God,  is  not  the  Head  of  the  Church,  for  there  are  pre- 
rogatives of  the  Godhead  incommunicable  to  all  creatures, 
and  which  we  could  never  share  so  as  to  be  made  one 
with  Him.  No  part  of  the  creation,  having  a  derived, 
dependent,  and  finite  existence,  could  ever  be  the  body 
of  the  self-existent  and  eternal  God.  If  there  is  to  be  a 
oneness  of  nature,  the  gulf  must  be  crossed  on  His  part, 
not  on  ours.  It  was  crossed  in  the  Incarnation,  when 
Godhead  and  manhood  were  made  indissolubly  one  in 
the  person  of  the  Eternal  Son.  By  taking  flesh  in  the 
womb  of  the  Virgin  through  the  overshadowing  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  He  became  very  man  in  the  inmost 
reality  of  our  being;  and  having  by  His  death  effected  a 
reconciliation  of  the  world  to  God,  He  rose  out  of  death 
in  the  glory  of  redeemed  humanity,  the  beginning  and 
the  first-fruits  of  the  new  creation.  Thus  He  opened 
the  way  for  us  to  become  one  with  Himself.  Had  He 
never  been  made  flesh.  He  never  could  have  taken  to 
Himself  a  body  from  amongst  the  creatures,  for  there 
would  have  been  an  impassable  abyss  between  Him  and 
them.  But  when,  because  the  children  were  partakers 
of  flesh  and  blood.  He  also  Himself  likewise  took  part 
of  the  same,  and  in  all  things  was  made  like  unto  His 


Farewell  Sermon  211 

brethren,  He  could  be  the  head  of  a  body  that  should 
partake  of  His  own  nature. 

The  formation  of  the  Church,  then,  in  the  sense  of  the 
Body  of  Christ,  is  the  fruit  of  the  Incarnation,  and  had 
no  beginning  in  the  ages  that  went  before,  while  as  yet 
the  way  was  only  preparing  for  the  eternal  union  of  God 
and  man  in  the  person  of  His  Son.  Nor  did  it  begin 
until  Jesus  had  exhausted  the  curse  by  going  down  into 
death,  and  been  exalted  into  glory  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  Father;  for  not  till  then  did  He  become  Head  over 
all  things,  and  receive  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
There  was  a  real  redemption  of  manhood  effected  by 
His  taking  it  under  all  the  infirmities  and  burdens  of  the 
fall,  yielding  it  unto  death,  and  raising  it  above  all  curse 
in  a  condition  of  incorruption  and  strength  fitting  it  to 
be  seated  in  the  very  throne  of  God.  It  was  a  more 
glorious  thing  after  His  resurrection  and  ascension,  than 
it  had  ever  been  before.  In  the  second  Adam,  it  was 
the  full  and  perfect  image  of  God,  beyond  what  it  was 
in  the  first.  Jesus  in  the  body  of  glory,  was  made  such 
a  man  as  creation  had  never  yet  looked  on;  and  it  was  a 
new  work  which  then  began — the  carrying  forth  from  the 
Man  at  God's  right  hand,  the  life  into  which  He  had 
been  raised  from  the  dead,  and  so  making  us  members 
of  His  flesh,  and  of  His  bones.  Hence  it  is  written 
while  our  Lord  was  yet  suffering  in  flesh,  that  "  the  Holy 
Ghost  was  not  yet  given,  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet 
glorified  " — John  vii.  39;  and  the  standing  of  the  Church 
is  continually  declared  to  be  that  of  those  who  are  dead 
with  Christ,  risen  with  Him,  and  seated  with  Him  in  the 
heavenly  places,  which  was  not  possible  of  any,  till  the 
energy  of  God  had  first  been  put  forth  in  His  deliverance 
from  the  grave,  and  His  entrance  into  glory. 

This  limitation  of  the  Church  to  those  who  have  re- 
ceived the  Holy  Ghost  in  that  form  of  operation  in  which 


212        William  Watson  Andrews 

He  was  first  sent  down  on  Pentecost,  as  the  fruit  of  our 
Lord's  consummated  triumph,  does  not  exclude  from  sal- 
vation those  that  feared  God  and  wrought  righteousness 
in  earlier  ages;  it  only  brings  out  the  great  truth  of  that 
diversity  of  His  workings  in  spiritual  things  which  we  see 
all  around  us  in  the  realm  of  nature,  life  revealing  itself 
in  numberless  gradations,  and  one  star  differing  from 
another  star  in  glory.  When  the  kingdom  shall  be  re- 
vealed, all  faithful  men  from  the  foundation  of  the  world 
shall  have  their  places  in  it  according  as  they  have  been 
prepared  for  them  in  the  wise  appointment  of  God; 
but  the  Church  shall  have  the  highest  rank,  as  being 
the  Wife  of  the  Lamb,  made  one  with  Him  in  body 
and  in  spirit,  and  filled  with  His  royal  gifts,  through 
the  presence  and  power  of  the  Comforter,  whom 
He  could  not  send  till  He  had  first  ascended  to  His 
Father. 

A  body  is  given  to  a  head  as  an  organ  of  manifestation 
and  instrument  of  action  ;  and  so  the  Church  is  given 
unto  Christ,  that  by  her  actings  He  may  reveal  Himself 
unto  men,  and  not  to  men  only,  but  to  the  powers  and 
principalities  in  heavenly  places.  He  did  not  take  flesh 
merely  to  save  that  which  was  lost,  but  that  in  it  and  by 
means  of  it  He  might  make  the  Godhead  known  through- 
out the  bounds  of  the  creation.  It  is  the  God-man,  the 
Son  acting  within  the  limitations  of  humanity,  that  is  for- 
ever to  be  the  revealer  of  the  Father;  and  He  gathers 
and  frames  His  Church  to  be  His  helper  in  this  glorious 
work,  as  Eve  to  Adam ;  —  a  work  begun  here  in  the 
feebleness  of  fallen  manhood,  but  to  be  carried  forward 
and  consummated  in  the  eternal  age,  in  the  power  and 
majesty  of  the  resurrection.  Her  calling  is  to  be  "  the 
fulness  of  Him  that  filleth  all  in  all,"  by  receiving 
through  the  Holy  Ghost  the  riches  of  His  grace  and 
power  and  wisdom  and  light,  and  pouring  them  forth  as 


Farewell  Sermon  213 

a  nourishing  mother  through  the  channels  of  her  ordi- 
nances. He  is  now  exalted  as  the  Lord  of  glory  far 
above  all  heavens;  and  in  order  that,  while  personally- 
absent.  He  may  dispense  in  the  world  the  blessings  into 
which  He  has  entered,  and  make  the  brightness  of  the 
heavenly  things  to  shine  amongst  the  habitations  of  men, 
He  fashions  for  Himself  a  Body,  in  which  He  can  act 
and  accomplish  the  Father's  pleasure.  All  that  is  in 
Him  —  the  first-fruits,  though  not  the  fulness  as  yet  — 
should  flow  forth  into  the  Church,  and  be  by  her  ex- 
hibited to  every  creature.  In  all  her  actings.  His  mani- 
fold grace  should  be  seen.  Her  voice  should  be  an 
utterance  in  the  ear  of  the  miserable  creation,  of  the 
message  of  His  mercy,  and  of  the  promise  of  the  coming 
redemption ;  her  blamelessness  of  life  should  be  a  mani- 
festation of  His  holiness;  and  her  works  of  power  should 
be  an  earnest  of  the  kingdom,  rudiments  at  least  of  its 
glory  and  might. 

There  could  be  no  Body  of  Christ  till  He  had  first 
made  Himself  one  with  us  by  the  assumption  of  human- 
ity; nor  then,  till  He  had  suffered  the  curse,  and  been 
exalted,  as  Man,  to  the  throne  of  the  Father;  nor  then, 
till  He  had  received  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  great  facts 
of  His  birth,  death,  resurrection,  and  ascension,  must 
first  be  accomplished;  and  it  was  in  the  proceeding  of 
the  Spirit,  on  Pentecost,  from  Jesus  the  Lord,  that  the 
true  framing  of  the  Church  began.  There  had  been 
faithful  men  in  all  ages  of  the  world  before,  patriarchs 
and  prophets,  who  endured  as  seeing  the  Invisible,  and 
who  shall  not  fail  of  their  reward;  but  members  of 
Christ's  flesh  and  bones,  a  wife  fashioned  out  of  His 
pierced  side,  there  were  none.  The  Body,  the  Bride,  is 
the  great  mystery  of  this  dispensation,  the  mystery  hid- 
den from  ages  and  generations,  which  the  angels  desire 
to  look  into. 


214        William  Watson  Andrews 

A  body  implies  organization,  the  arrangement  of  many 
members  having  diverse  functions,  after  a  law  which 
should  secure  their  harmonious  working  to  a  common 
end;  and  the  higher  any  creature  is  in  the  scale  of  be- 
ing, the  more  complicated  is  its  structure,  because  of  the 
greater  number  of  processes  which  are  to  be  carried  on. 
So  Christ  cannot  express  the  fulness  that  is  in  Him, 
through  any  one  man,  or  by  means  of  any  one  office; 
and  He  therefore  frames  men  together,  as  the  bones  are 
jointed  in  the  body,  that  by  them  all,  working  effectually 
in  their  several  places,  He  may  execute  all  His  offices, 
and  show  forth  His  manifold  perfections.  God  alone 
is  the  builder  of  the  Church,  and  He  sets  the  members 
in  it  as  it  pleases  Him.  Man  might  as  well  attempt  to 
create  and  distribute  the  organs  of  his  own  body  as  to 
lay  down  a  law  for  the  ordinances  of  the  Body  of  Christ. 
The  Lord  Jesus,  whose  Body  it  is,  alone  knows  what  in- 
struments are  needful  to  accomplish  the  vast  and  glorious 
ends  for  which  He  brought  it  forth;  and,  "when  He 
ascended  up  on  high,  leading  captivity  captive,  and 
giving  gifts  unto  men,  He  gave  some.  Apostles;  and 
some.  Prophets;  and  some,  Evangelists;  and  some. 
Pastors  and  Teachers;  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints, 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the 
Body  of  Christ,  till  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the 
faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto 
a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the 
fulness  of  Christ."  Eph.  iv.  8-13.  He  gave  them, 
because  they  all  were  needed  to  make  known  unto  men 
the  riches  of  the  glory  of  Him,  in  whom  is  the  fulness  of 
the  Godhead  bodily.  They  were  all  concentrated  in 
Him,  who  is  at  once  the  Apostle,  the  sent  of  God;  the 
Prophet,  the  opener  of  mysteries  and  the  revealer  of 
light;  the  Evangelist,  the  messenger  of  glad  tidings; 
and  the  Pastor,   ever  feeding  and   watching   over   the 


Farewell  Sermon  215 

Father's  flock,  with  the  shepherd's  tender  care;  and 
He  set  them  in  the  Church  as  the  true  and  abiding 
forms  of  His  own  ministry,  and  the  necessary  channels 
of  His  grace.  Each  office  has  its  own  work  to  fulfil,  and 
its  own  portion  of  the  great  revelation  of  God  to  accom- 
plish; and  if  they  be  not  all  actively  working  for  the 
edifying  of  the  Body,  then  is  it  mutilated  or  diseased, 
without  the  indispensable  means  of  harmonious  growth, 
or  the  ability  of  being  the  true  and  effectual  messenger 
of  the  Lord  in  the  earth. 

And  the  Body  is  one.  All  who  have  been  joined  unto 
the  Lord  by  being  baptized  into  His  Name,  have  been 
made  partakers  of  the  one  life  flowing  from  the  Head, 
and  so  are  one  in  Him.  The  one  Catholic  Church  em- 
braces all  who  have  received  the  one  baptism,  be  they 
called  by  what  names  of  men  they  may;  and  every 
attempt  to  circumscribe  it  by  narrowed  boundaries  is  of 
the  essence  of  schism.  No  doubt,  an  invisible  oneness, 
however  real,  is  not  enough;  it  should  also  be  mani- 
fested, that  the  world  may  see  and  believe.  It  was  so  in 
the  beginning,  through  the  rule  of  Apostles,  whose  juris- 
diction embraces  the  whole  company  of  the  faithful;  and 
so  should  it  ever  have  remained,  through  the  holding 
fast  of  that  highest  ministry  which  is  the  only  divinely 
appointed  centre  of  unity.  Alas,  the  Body  is  now  dis- 
membered as  well  as  mutilated,  because  the  ordinances 
that  should  bind  all  the  members  together,  and  supply 
the  nourishment  and  strength  to  all  for  their  mutual  edi- 
fying, have  long  been  lost;  and  the  scattered  bones  are 
seen  everywhere  in  the  valley  of  vision,  brother  separated 
from  brother,  and  tribe  from  tribe,  throughout  Im- 
manuel's  land.  But  these  rendings  of  the  Church, 
though  a  dishonor  to  the  Lord,  and  a  perpetual  hindrance 
to  His  purpose,  cannot  destroy  the  unity  of  the  Body, 
which  stands  in  the  one  Head,  the  one  life,  and  the  one 


2i6        William  Watson  Andrews 

Spirit;  and  the  time  must  come  when  it  shall  be  mani- 
fested again,  bone  coming  to  his  bone,  and  the  breath 
of  Heaven  blowing  upon  the  slain. 

Such,  dear  brethren,  have  been  my  teachings  con- 
cerning the  Church,  as  to  its  origin,  its  nature,  and  its 
ministries;  and  I  pray  that  you  may  be  led  to  see  the 
misery  of  its  present  desolation,  and  give  God  no  rest 
until  He  shall  arise  and  repair  its  ruins. 

And  there  is  one  Spirit.  Not  an  influence  from  God, 
a  power  put  forth  by  God,  or  any  mere  outward  form  of 
the  Divine  actings,  but  an  intelligent  and  self-conscious 
Person,  distinct  from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  from 
whom  He  eternally  proceeds  in  the  unity  of  the  God- 
head, and  the  Giver  of  life  to  all  things.  To  Him,  as 
the  Third  Person  in  the  adorable  Trinity,  who  cannot 
be  conceived  of  as  existing  without  the  Father  and 
the  Son,  and  in  whom  the  mystery  of  the  one  God  — 
the  All-perfect  Being  —  is  completed,  it  belongs  to 
give  effect  and  outward  realization  to  the  Divine  will 
and  counsel,  in  all  the  spheres  of  created  existence. 
By  Him  all  the  works  of  God  have  ever  been  effected  in 
the  earth,  from  the  time  that  He  brooded  as  a  dove  over 
the  dark  and  tumultuous  waters,  and  caused  the  order 
and  beauty  and  life  of  the  goodly  creation  to  come  forth, 
through  the  whole  progress  of  our  redemption  out  of  sin 
and  death.  Every  act  of  faith,  every  breathing  of  godly 
penitence,  every  aspiration  of  love,  every  deed  of  holi- 
ness, has  been  the  fruit  of  His  mighty  operation.  By 
Him,  the  patriarchs  had  grace  to  walk  as  strangers  and 
pilgrims  on  the  earth ;  by  Him  the  prophets  spake,  when 
they  revealed  the  sufferings  of  Christ  and  the  glory  that 
should  follow;  and  the  faith  of  all  the  holy  men  of  old, 
who  wrought  righteousness  and  obtained  promises,  was 
the  gift  of  God,  implanted  and  sustained  by  His  in- 
working. 


Farewell  Sermon  217 

But  there  is  a  larger  grace  for  the  Christian  dispensa- 
tion than  the  Patriarchal  or  the  Jewish  ever  knew. 
There  is  a  mightier  energy  and  more  glorious  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  Body  of  Christ  than  could 
be  under  the  shadows  of  the  Law.  When  the  Son  of 
God,  with  whom  in  Godhead  the  Spirit  is  eternally  one, 
took  flesh  into  personal  union  with  Himself,  man  became 
in  very  truth  the  temple  of  God.  It  was  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  that  the  Lord  Jesus  was  conceived  without  sin  in 
the  Virgin's  womb;  it  was  the  Holy  Ghost  that  descended 
on  Him  after  His  baptism  in  the  Jordan,  and  filled  Him 
with  power  and  wisdom,  as  man  was  never  filled  before, 
that  He  might  execute  the  ministry  committed  to  Him 
by  the  Father;  and  when  He  ascended  up  far  above  all 
heavens,  that  He  might  fill  all  things,  He  was  "  anointed 
with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  His  fellows,"  that,  in  His 
manhood,  He  might  fulfil  the  functions  of  God's  King 
and  Priest.  In  Him,  humanity  became  the  dwelling- 
place  of  the  Eternal  Spirit,  and  the  subject  of  His  holy 
workings,  as  it  had  never  been  before.  And  the  pecu- 
liarity of  the  Church  is,  that  she  is  one  with  Him,  and  so 
the  very  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  dwells  in  Christ 
and  His  members,  as  He  dwells  in  no  part  of  the  creation 
besides.  When  the  Lord  ascended  on  high,  leading 
captivity  captive.  He  received  gifts  for  men  that  He 
might  dwell  amongst  them,  or  frame  them  into  a  holy 
habitation  for  Himself.  This  habitation  is  His  Church, 
in  which  He  ever  abides  in  the  person  of  the  Spirit,  and 
which  He  would  fill  with  the  powers  of  the  world  to 
come,  as  the  overflowings  of  His  fulness,  and  the  earnest 
of  the  glory  of  the  kingdom. 

The  various  gifts  and  manifestations  which  are  else- 
where enumerated  by  the  Apostle,  and  declared  to  be 
given  to  every  man  for  profit  or  edifying — as  the  word  of 
wisdom,  the  word  of  knowledge,  faith,  the  gifts  of  healing, 


2i8        William  Watson  Andrews 

the  working  of  miracles,  prophecy,  the  discernment 
of  spirits,  divers  kinds  of  tongues,  and  the  interpretation 
of  tongues — these  are  the  appropriate  forms  in  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  works  in  this  dispensation,  and  are  all  neces- 
sary for  the  growth  of  the  Church  unto  perfection,  and 
for  the  full  revelation  of  God.  Not  mere  outward  sym- 
bols to  attest  the  introduction  of  the  Comforter;  not  a 
sudden  meteoric  blaze  to  flash  its  portentous  glare  for  a 
moment,  and  then  be  lost  forever;  but  the  true  and  per- 
manent endowments  of  the  Body  of  Christ,  according  to 
the  various  needs  of  its  members,  without  which  it  has 
no  power  of  healthful  activity,  and  cannot  reach  unto 
the  stature  of  His  fulness.  They  are  never  spoken  of 
as  transient  exhibitions  of  power,  to  serve  the  temporary 
use  of  inaugurating  a  new  dispensation;  but  as  the  abid- 
ing gifts  of  the  Spirit,  of  which  Peter  said  on  Pentecost, 
"  The  promise  is  unto  you,  and  to  your  children,  and  to 
all  that  are  afar  off,  even  as  many  as  the  Lord  our  God 
shall  call," 

What  benefit  has  the  Church  now  of  this  promise  ? 
Wherein  are  we  more  privileged  than  the  disciples  before 
Jesus  entered  into  His  glory  ?  What  has  become  of  the 
Comforter  who  was  to  abide  with  us  forever  ?  Alas, 
brethren,  you  ask  for  the  Spirit,  that  sinners  may  be 
brought  to  repentance,  and  that  you  may  be  so  kept  as 
not  to  fail  of  your  salvation;  and  you  do  well  in  asking 
for  it.  But  you  do  not  ask  that  Jesus  may  be  honored 
by  the  precious  gifts  and  mighty  workings  which  were 
seen  of  old,  because  you  are  shut  up  within  the  prison- 
bounds  of  your  own  selfish  interest.  If  you  can  be 
saved,  and  get  others  saved,  you  are  satisfied,  as  though 
the  Church  were  a  mere  device  for  blessing  men,  and  not 
God's  chosen  and  wonderful  instrument  for  the  showing 
forth  of  His  glory.  What  need  was  there  of  a  day  of 
Pentecost  ?     If  mere  personal  safety  was  all  that  should 


Farewell  Sermon  219 

call  forth  our  zeal,  and  quicken  our  desires,  then  was  it 
useless  for  the  Lord  to  pray  the  Father  that  He  would 
send  the  Holy  Ghost;  and  all  the  glorious  revelations  of 
His  fulness,  in  the  early  ages,  were  an  idle  waste  of 
power.  Let  us  not  so  limit  the  one  Spirit.  Let  us  be 
satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  the  energy  of  the  living 
God  put  forth  in  the  midst  of  His  people,  manifesting 
them  to  be  one  with  Him,  and  so  making  them  effectual 
witnesses  to  His  Name.  Let  us  remember  the  largeness 
of  His  promises,  and  be  filled  with  holy  ardor,  that  the 
Church,  enriched  again  with  spiritual  gifts,  may  be 
comely  as  Jerusalem,  and  terrible  as  an  army  with 
banners. 

The  Hope  of  the  Body  is  also  one.  The  true  hope  of 
every  creature  is  to  attain  its  perfection.  All  long  and 
strive  for  that  which  shall  complete  and  crown  their 
being.  There  is  amongst  all  ranks  of  living  things  an 
instinctive  or  intelligent  reaching  forward  towards  that 
maturity  which  shall  consummate  the  end  for  which 
they  exist.  So  the  hope  of  the  Church  stretches  onward 
to  her  perfect  standing,  when  her  Lord  will  present  her 
to  Himself  without  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing, 
and  give  to  her  the  inheritance  of  the  kingdom.  No- 
thing short  of  that  event,  by  which  the  one  Body  shall 
attain  its  predestined  power  and  glory  as  the  Wife  of  the 
Lamb,  can  satisfy  the  desire  which  His  promise  would 
kindle  in  her  heart.  Death  is  not  the  perfecting  of  the 
Bride.  If  it  is  the  deliverance  of  the  spirit  from  sin  and 
sorrow,  it  is  the  consummation  of  the  curse  unto  the 
body.  A  disembodied  spirit  is  not  a  perfect  man,  and 
cannot  perform  the  work  of  a  perfect  man.  The  dead 
must  be  raised  in  the  likeness  of  their  Lord  before  they 
can  receive  their  inheritance,  or  serve  Him  in  the  min- 
istries of  His  kingdom.  They  rest  from  their  labors  — 
from  ^//labors  —  and  wait  for  their  crown.     Their  hope 


220        William  Watson  Andrews 

is  the  redemption  of  the  body,  when  Jesus  shall  bring 
them  with  Him  at  His  coming,  and  clothe  them  with 
their  house  which  is  from  heaven  —  the  body  of  incor- 
ruption  —  in  which,  being  like  Him,  they  shall  see  Him 
as  He  is,  and  be  ready  to  be  used  by  Him  in  the  eternal 
administration  of  His  government.  From  beneath  the 
altar  they  ever  cry,  "  How  long,  O  Lord,  holy  and  true, 
dost  Thou  not  judge  and  avenge  our  blood  on  them  that 
dwell  on  the  earth  ?  "  (Rev.  vi.  lo.)  They  look  for- 
ward with  joyful  desire  to  the  time  when  "  the  king- 
doms of  this  world  shall  become  the  kingdoms  of  our 
Lord,  and  of  His  Christ "  ;  when  "  He  shall  give  reward 
unto  His  servants  the  prophets,  and  to  the  saints,  and 
them  that  fear  His  name  " ;  and  "  the  meek  shall  inherit 
the  earth."  The  rest  and  peace  in  which  they  are  now 
abiding  is  not  the  glory  of  the  kingdom  when  their  re- 
ward shall  be  the  fellowship  of  Christ's  throne;  and  as 
He  could  not  be  seated  at  God's  right  hand  till  first  He 
had  triumphed  over  death,  so  neither  can  His  members 
reign  with  Him  so  long  as  they  lie  bound  under  the  cap- 
tivity of  the  grave.  It  must  be  remembered,  too,  that  the 
hope  of  the  Body  is  one,  common  to  all,  and  to  be  ob- 
tained by  all  at  once.  Of  the  holy  men  of  old  who  ob- 
tained a  good  report  through  faith,  the  Apostle  says, 
"  These  all  received  not  the  promise;  God  having  pro- 
vided some  better  thing  for  us,  that  they  without  us 
should  not  be  made  perfect."  They  have  not  received 
the  promise  yet,  nor  can  the  dead  be  made  perfect  till 
the  number  of  the  elect  has  been  completed,  and  all  are 
prepared  to  take  their  places  in  that  polity  which  con- 
summates and  crowns  all  the  works  of  God. 

And  as  the  hope  of  the  sleeping  saints  is  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body,  so  the  hope  of  the  living  is  not  to  be 
unclothed  in  death,  but  to  be  clothed  upon  in  the  trans- 
lation,  when  mortality  shall   be  swallowed  up  of  life. 


Farewell  Sermon  221 

Enoch  and  Elijah  were  types  of  the  faithful  who  shall 
survive  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  in  whom  the  change 
from  the  corruptible  into  the  incorruptible  shall  be  ac- 
complished without  tasting  of  the  bitterness  of  death. 
"  We  shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be  changed,  in 
a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last  trump ; 
for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and  the  dead  shall  be  raised 
incorruptible,  and  we  shall  be  changed."  This  is  the 
hope  of  our  calling  —  the  living  hope  unto  which  we  are 
begotten  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the 
dead  —  the  hope  of  life,  not  of  death.  And  if  the  faith- 
ful who  sleep  in  Jesus,  sheltered  from  the  storms,  and 
freed  from  the  pollutions,  of  this  evil  world,  think  it  long 
till  their  Lord  appear  to  raise  their  bodies  out  of  the 
dust, —  how  earnestly  should  we  stretch  forth  the  head  to 
catch  the  sound  of  His  approaching  footsteps — we,  to 
whom  the  battle  is  fierce,  and  the  burden  heavy,  and  the 
stain  of  sin  deep  in  the  soul!  Oh,  how  has  the  Church 
ceased  to  war  against  death,  yielding  herself  in  passive 
hopelessness  to  its  usurped  dominion,  and  accounting  its 
rest  her  chief  reward,  instead  of  pressing  forward  to  that 
"  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God  "  in  the  glory  of  the 
resurrection,  for  which  even  the  earnest  expectation  of 
the  creation  waits  ! 

And  not  for  our  own  sakes  alone,  nor  for  the  sake 
alone  of  the  sleeping  saints,  should  we  long  for  the  re- 
turn of  our  Lord  and  Saviour;  but  that  the  earth,  now 
groaning  and  travailing  in  pain,  may  be  delivered  from 
the  curse.  For  the  promise  that  the  Seed  of  the  Woman 
shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head,  includes  in  its  large  reach 
of  blessings  the  redemption  .of  man's  inheritance,  by  the 
casting  out  of  him  who  usurped  it,  and  the  purging  away 
of  all  the  evil  with  which  his  slimy  presence  has  defiled 
and  infected  it.  The  earth  was  made  for  the  revealing 
of  God's  glory,  through  the  possession  and  enjoyment 


22  2        William  Watson  Andrews 

of  its  manifold  treasures,  free  from  all  curse,  by  man 
standing  in  his  allegiance  to  his  Maker;  and  though  the 
purpose  was  frustrated  by  the  fall  of  the  first  Adam,  it 
shall  be  accomplished  in  the  second,  who  will  cause  the 
Father's  will  to  be  done  forevermore.  He  has  already, 
in  His  own  person,  triumphed  over  the  seductions  of  the 
serpent,  and  proved  Himself  against  all  temptation  the 
obedient  Son,  worthy  to  take  up  the  forfeited  sceptre  of 
man's  dominion,  and  rule  in  righteousness  for  God;  and 
He  now  waits  only  for  the  completion  of  the  company 
of  joint-heirs  that  shall  rule  with  Him,  to  come  forth  to 
redeem  and  purify  and  bless  His  purchased  inheritance. 
They  are  right  who  are  looking  for  righteousness  and 
peace  to  fill  the  earth,  and  make  glad  the  obedient  na- 
tions; but  they  are  wrong  who  look  for  it  before  the 
Man,  who  is  the  Heir,  shall  come  to  make  it  His  own 
eternal  dwelling-place.  He  was  made  a  little  lower  than 
the  angels  for  the  suffering  of  death,  to  pay  the  price  of 
the  redemption;  and  then  crowned  with  glory  and 
honor,  and  invested  with  the  right  of  dominion  over  all 
the  works  of  God's  hand;  "  but  now  we  see  not  yet  all 
things  put  under  him,"  and  the  next  step  shall  be  His 
actual  and  visible  government  of  the  creatures. 

It  is  an  idle  dream  which  now  possesses  so  many,  that 
the  Church  is  to  bring  in  the  kingdom,  in  the  absence  of 
the  King.  There  is  not  one  word  for  it  in  all  the  Scriptures. 
It  contradicts  the  exhortations  to  continual  watchfulness 
for  Him  —  not  for  death,  but  Him  who  is  the  conqueror 
of  death  —  which  imply  the  possibility  of  His  coming  in 
any  generation,  and  therefore  the  certainty  of  His  com- 
ing before  the  long,  fixed  period  of  the  Millennium, 
which  is  the  time  for  rest,  not  for  watching;  it  is  incon- 
sistent with  the  foretold  humiliation  and  sorrow  of  the 
Church  during  the  whole  of  this  dispensation,  in  which 
she  is  to  walk  in  His  footsteps,  and  be  perfected  by  the 


Farewell  Sermon  223 

fellowship  of  His  sufferings;  it  robs  her  of  the  blessed 
hope  by  which  alone  she  can  be  purified,  and  towards 
which  the  Apostles  ever  struggled  to  lead  her — the  hope 
of  being  like  Him,  and  seeing  Him  as  He  is;  and  it  en- 
tangles her  in  worldly  schemes  and  alliances,  and  so  eats 
out  all  faith  in  the  heavenly  citizenship.  The  nations 
are  to  be  blessed,  and  the  earth,  unto  the  uttermost  parts 
of  it,  is  to  see  the  salvation  of  God;  but  it  shall  be  when 
the  time  comes  that  the  saints  possess  the  kingdom  — 
Dan.  vii.  22  —  which  is  not  during  the  Bridegroom's  ab- 
sence, for  then  the  Church  is  the  desolate  widow  called 
to  fasting  and  mourning,  and  the  word  to  her  ever  is, 
"  Be  patient  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord."  The  last 
temptation  by  which  Jesus  was  assailed,  when  He  was 
led  up  into  the  wilderness,  is  now  spreading  its  cunning 
seductions  all  around  us;  and  we  are  looking  to  gain  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  the  glory  of  them,  before 
the  time  that  the  Father  shall  give  them  to  the  Son. 

The  one  great  hope  for  the  whole  creation,  towards 
which,  blindly  and  unconsciously,  if  not  with  intelligent 
desire,  all  are  reaching  forward,  is  the  Marriage  of  the 
Lamb.  It  is  the  hope  of  the  Bride,  who  shall  then  be 
one  with  her  Lord  in  all  His  glory,  and  power,  and  ful- 
ness of  blessing.  It  is  the  hope  of  the  nations,  who  shall 
then  know  the  blessedness  of  righteous  rule.  It  is  the 
hope  of  the  sore-burdened  earth,  which  longs  to  be  de- 
livered from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.  And  it  is  the  hope  of  the 
Lord  Himself,  whose  heart  yearns  over  His  Church,  pur- 
chased with  His  own  blood,  but  still  lying  in  the  deso- 
lateness  of  death,  or  amidst  the  defilements  of  this  evil 
world,  and  whose  word  of  promise  is,  "  Surely  I  come 
quickly."  Let  our  response  ever  be,  "  Even  so,  come, 
Lord  Jesus. ' '  Let  our  hearts  be  broken  through  our  sym- 
pathy with  the  burdens  and  sorrows  of  all,  and  let  us 


224        William  Watson  Andrews 

utter  in  His  ear  continually  the  cry  that  shall  hasten  the 
common  deliverance. 

And  there  is  one  Lord,  Jesus  is  the  Lord.  He  who 
in  the  beginning  was  with  God,  and  was  God;  He  who 
is  the  eternally  Begotten  of  the  Father,  the  brightness  of 
His  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  His  person,  and 
therefore  one  with  Him  in  the  unity  of  the  Godhead, 
while  distinct  from  Him  in  His  own  filial  personality, 
and  who  for  love  to  us  was  made  flesh,  and  yielded  Him- 
self to  the  death  of  the  cross;  He  is  the  Lord.  Not  as 
in  right  of  His  Godhead,  but  as  the  prerogative  of  His 
manhood;  for  lordship  was  the  Father's  gift  unto  Him 
in  recompense  of  His  obedience  as  a  Man.  It  is  our 
brother,  bone  of  our  bone,  and  flesh  of  our  flesh,  who  is 
now  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  to  whom  all 
power  has  been  given  in  heaven,  and  earth,  and  hell. 
It  was  a  great  epoch  in  our  history,  and  in  the  history  of 
the  whole  creation,  when  Jesus  ascended  to  the  Father, 
and  was  enthroned  far  above  all  principality,  and  power, 
and  might,  and  dominion;  for  from  that  time  the  admin- 
istration of  all  rule  has  been  committed  to  a  Man.  There 
is  no  name  in  this  world,  or  in  that  which  is  to  come,  no 
head  of  authority  or  form  of  dominion  whatsoever,  that 
is  not  under  Him  as  Lord,  and  bound  to  do  Him 
homage.  He  is  the  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth, 
from  whom  they  receive  their  crowns,  and  to  whom  they 
are  responsible. 

That  is  a  Christian  State  which  acknowledges  Christ 
as  the  fountain  of  power,  and  exercises  rule  in  His 
name.  And  however  grossly  the  truth  of  the  Divine 
right  of  kings  and  magistrates  may  have  been  abused, 
—  and  it  has  been  most  fearfully  abused  through  their 
ruling  for  themselves,  and  not  for  God, —  it  is  true  that 
He  "  standeth  in  the  congregation  of  the  mighty; 
He   judgeth   among  the   gods";     and   that   the   rulers 


Farewell  Sermon  225 

that  know  not  this,  and  rule  not  in  His  faith  and 
fear  for  the  deliverance  of  the  poor  and  needy,  shall 
perish  before  Him  when  He  ariseth  to  shake  terribly  the 
earth.  And  the  rejection  of  Christ  as  King,  which  is 
fast  being  consummated  by  the  nations  of  Christendom, 
who  are  substituting  the  will  of  the  people  for  the  au- 
thority of  the  Lord,  is  the  explanation  of  the  judgment 
now  impending  —  yea,  the  first  acts  of  which  are  already 
opening  in  wrath.  Let  the  lawless  multitudes  now  raging 
against  all  authority,  the  origin  of  which  is  not  in  them- 
selves, because  it  has  been  wickedly  used  for  their  op- 
pression, know  that  Jesus  is  the  Lord,  and  that  all  rule 
is  from  Him,  not  from  them.  Let  them  not  dare  to  arro- 
gate to  themselves  that  dominion  over  rulers  which 
belongs  to  God  alone.  Let  them  see  the  Lord  in  His 
ordinances,  and  look  to  Him  for  the  vindication  of  their 
rights.  And  let  us  beware  of  the  seductions  of  the  law- 
less spirit  which  are  fast  stealing  men  into  the  ranks  of 
Anti-Christ,  and  submit  ourselves,  not  for  fear,  but  for 
conscience'  sake,  to  those  that  bear  His  names  of  rule  in 
the  Family  and  in  the  State;  for  thus  alone  can  we  be 
defended  from  the  temptation  that  is  coming  upon  the 
face  of  all  the  earth. 

But  it  is  the  Church  especially  that  should  recognize 
the  lordship  of  Jesus,  for  the  Church  is  now  His  king- 
dom. His  rule  alone  should  be  seen  in  it,  and  all  its 
ordinances  should  be  according  to  His  will,  and  not  the 
will  of  man.  He  is  the  Head  of  the  Body,  and  from 
Him  should  proceed  the  law  to  guide  and  control  every 
act  and  arrangement,  whether  in  worship  or  discipline. 
No  man  is  the  head  of  the  Church,  and  man's  ways 
ought  never  to  prevail  in  it.  It  was  a  righteous  principle 
for  which  the  Reformers  contended  against  the  usurpa- 
tions of  the  Papacy,  that  Jesus  alone  is  Lord  over  His 
house;  and  the  same  great  truth  is  blindly  aimed  at  by 

IS 


2  26        William  Watson  Andrews 

those  who  are  now  struggling  to  free  it  from  bondage  to 
kings  and  parliaments.  But  how  shall  the  Lord  give 
laws,  and  guide  the  movements  of  His  people  from  age  to 
age,  except  by  those  whom  He  sets  in  the  place  of  rule, 
and  in  whom  He  speaks  and  acts  ?  His  lordship  should 
be  seen  in  the  Church  as  a  present  reality,  not  as  a  mere 
matter  of  historic  record.  As  truly  as  the  ordinances  of 
Israel  were  of  old  given  from  the  lips  of  Jehovah,  whether 
from  the  flaming  mount,  from  the  glory  between  the 
cherubim,  or  by  the  inspired  utterances  of  prophets;  as 
truly  as  the  marshalled  tribes  were  led  through  the 
wilderness  by  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  fire,  moving 
when  it  moved,  and  halting  when  it  rested, —  so  truly 
should  the  Church,  which  is  the  dwelling-place  of  the 
living  God,  be  now  ordered  and  guided  by  the  Angel  of 
the  Covenant,  And  this  is  as  effectually  hindered  when 
men  guide  themselves  as  when  they  are  under  the 
usurped  dominion  of  Pope  or  Emperor. 

We  do  not  get  the  guidance  of  the  Lord  by  violently 
freeing  ourselves  from  unrighteous  rule.  It  is  only  in  His 
appointed  ways,  and  by  His  fixed  ordinances,  made  effect- 
ual to  faith  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that 
the  rule  of  Jesus  is  administered.  He  governs  His  Church 
by  men,  not  by  books,  because  He  is  a  man.  While  on 
earth,  "  God  manifest  in  flesh,"  though  He  diligently 
meditated  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  ever  spake  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Father's  will  therein  revealed.  He  was  yet 
a  living  light  amongst  men,  the  very  presence  of  the  Holy 
One,  a  teacher  and  guide  such  as  no  written  word  could 
1)6.  And  when  He  founded  His  Church,  He  gave  minis- 
tries by  which  He  could  express  His  will,  and,  though  ab- 
sent in  body,  could  truly  and  effectually  guide  His  flock. 
When  these  ministries  are  wanting,  the  lordship  of  Jesus 
is  not  seen,  and  the  blessing  of  His  wise  and  merciful 
rule  cannot  be  felt.     It  is  not  enough,  then,  to  break  the 


Farewell  Sermon  227 

oppressive  bonds  which  men  have  forged  —  whether  of 
princes  intruding  into  the  sanctuary,  or  of  priests  ruling 
in  the  spirit  of  worldly  domination  —  that  we  may  enter 
into  the  liberty  wherewith  He  maketh  free;  we  must  also 
be  under  His  ordinances,  and  in  subjection  to  the  laws 
of  His  house.  And  it  avails  little  to  cast  away  that  which 
is  usurped  and  false,  if  we  are  left  without  the  legitimate 
means  of  His  rule.  This  is  a  truth  most  needful  to  be 
remembered  in  the  present  condition  of  Christendom, 
full  of  rebellion  against  the  old  yokes  and  bonds,  and  of 
restless  longings  after  spiritual  freedom.  None  can  be 
free  who  are  not  the  Lord's  bondmen.  And  if  the  fruit 
of  these  revolutions  is  to  make  the  Church  a  mere  de- 
mocracy, in  which  the  will  of  the  multitude  supplants  the 
authority  of  the  State  and  the  irregular  and  exorbitant 
rule  of  the  priesthood,  then  shall  the  Prophet's  word  be 
fulfilled,  "  Rejoice  not  thou,  whole  Palestina,  because  the 
rod  of  him  that  smote  thee  is  broken;  for  out  of  the  ser- 
pent's root  shall  come  forth  a  cockatrice, and  his  fruit  shall 
be  a  fiery  flying  serpent."  Nothing  can  save  the  nations 
from  the  drunkenness  and  revellings  of  spiritual  lawless- 
ness, now  that  they  are  going  out  in  haste  and  tumult 
from  the  old  house  of  bondage,  save  the  lifting  up  again 
of  the  ancient  ordinances  of  God,  that  the  rule  of  Jesus 
may  be  put  forth  in  the  fulness  of  its  power  and  blessing. 
And  He  must  be  seen  as  the  One  Lord.  His  host  must 
be,  not  a  motley  assemblage  of  belligerent  clans,  obedient 
to  no  common  law,  and  made  helpless  by  distraction  and 
confused  strife;  but  a  well-ordered  band,  moving  with 
one  spirit  and  harmonious  step,  to  execute  the  counsels 
and  sustain  the  honor  of  its  Chief.  How  can  the  one 
lordship  be  seen  in  the  Church,  when  there  is  no  recog- 
nized centre  from  which  the  Head  can  communicate  with 
all  the  parts,  and  direct  their  movements  towards  a  com- 
m.on  end;  but  every  fragment  has  its  own  self-imposed 


228        William  Watson  Andrews 

constitution,  and  struggles  to  get  for  itself  a  place  and 
name  of  honor  at  the  expense  of  jealous  rivals  ?  Let  us 
be  zealous,  not  for  ourselves,  but  for  the  one  Lord  and 
the  one  Body,  that  the  discordant  rule  of  man  may  be 
put  away,  and  the  jargon  of  his  clashing  words  be  heard 
no  more;  and  so  the  effectual  commandment  of  Jesus 
go  forth  without  hindrance  and  with  life-giving  power, 
unto  all  His  Church,  and  through  the  Church  unto  the 
ends  of  the  world. 

And  there  is  one  Faith.  One,  whether  we  look  at  the 
object  or  the  act,  at  the  promise  and  word  of  God  of 
which  it  lays  hold,  or  at  the  yielding  up  of  the  heart  to 
embrace  the  truth  in  self-renunciation,  which  is  possible 
only  through  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  That 
which  we  believe  is  one;  for  faith,  truly  so  called,  can- 
not rest  upon  a  lie.  It  must  have  the  truth  of  God  for 
its  object,  even  as  it  is  wrought  in  us  by  His  power. 
Men  may  be  persuaded  of  a  falsehood,  but  such  per- 
suasion is  not  faith,  for  it  is  not  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit. 
That  which  God  makes  us  to  believe  is  true.  And  it  is  one 
and  the  same  thing,  more  clearly  apprehended  by  one 
than  another,  more  fully  developed  in  one  age  than  an- 
other, but  essentially  one.  "  The  faith  once  delivered 
to  the  saints,"  the  great  supernatural  facts  and  spiritual 
realities  revealed  to  the  Church  in  the  beginning,  is  ever 
to  be  held  fast  and  earnestly  contended  for,  for  it  cannot 
change.  The  Truth  concerning  God,  His  counsels,  and 
His  works,  is  quite  independent  of  our  belief.  He  ex- 
ists, and  frames  His  plans,  and  carries  forward  His 
operations,  whether  we  believe  it  or  not.  That  which  is 
propounded  to  our  faith,  has  a  real  existence,  apart  from 
our  perception  of  it.  We  discover  the  truth,  but  do  not 
create  it.  It  must,  therefore,  be  set  forth  to  us  in  authori- 
tative statement,  dogmatically,  as  the  object  of  faith,  by 
those  who  are  commissioned  and  empowered  so  to  do. 


Farewell  Sermon  229 

A  Creed  is  the  summary  of  the  truth  that  we  are  to  be- 
lieve. The  faith  (the  credo)  of  the  Eunuch,  on  the  con- 
fession of  which  he  was  baptized,  was,  "  I  believe  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God  " — a  pregnant  confession, 
involving  all  that  was  afterwards  developed  in  the  great 
Catholic  Creeds.  The  Symbol  bearing  the  name  of  the 
Apostles,  is  nothing  more  than  a  full  and  orderly  state- 
ment of  what  is  contained  in  this  great  fact,  which  can- 
not be  understood  without  some  knowledge  of  the  Trinity, 
the  Incarnation,  Death,  Resurrection,  and  Ascension  of 
the  Lord,  and  the  giving  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  the 
Church,  and  of  the  final  issues  of  the  Judgment.  And 
the  Nicene  and  Athanasian  Creeds,  in  the  continual 
utterance  of  which  in  solemn  worship  the  faith  of  Chris- 
tendom has  been  sounded  forth,  are  but  a  larger  ex- 
planation and  defense  of  the  one  central  truth,  "  God 
manifest  in  flesh,"  made  necessary  by  the  subtle  perver- 
sions of  heresy.  Nor  has  the  Church  transgressed  her 
rightful  limits  in  thus  embodying  her  faith  in  explicit 
formularies,  for  she  is  "  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the 
truth,"  commissioned  to  make  it  known  and  defernd  it, 
and  enabled  to  do  this  through  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  who  should  ever  fill  her  with  the  light  of  life. 

If  dogmatic — that  is,  authoritative — statements  of  truth 
are  unwarrantable  and  presumptuous,  as  transcending  the 
boundaries  of  human  knowledge,  then  was  Jesus  a  dog- 
matist when  He  said,  "  I  and  my  Father  are  one  " ;  then 
was  Paul  a  dogmatist  when  he  said  that  "  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord  was  made  of  the  seed  of  David  according  to  the 
flesh;  and  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power, 
according  to  the  Spirit  of  holiness,  by  the  resurrection 
from  the  dead  ";  and  all  distinct  and  intelligible  expres- 
sion of  spiritual  mysteries  must  be  held  to  be  impractic- 
able. No  doubt  many  creeds  have  been  framed  and 
imposed,    which  are  full  of   the  mere  subtleties  of  the 


230        William  Watson  Andrews 

intellect,  and  are  a  burden  too  heavy  to  be  borne;  but  ta 
deny  the  right  and  the  competency  of  the  Church  to  set 
forth  and  explain  the  truth,  in  forms  which  the  under- 
standing of  the  spiritually  enlightened  can  apprehend,  is 
to  deny  her  standing  as  the  dwelling-place  of  the  God  of 
truth,  and  to  doom  her  children  to  perpetual  infancy. 
Nor  should  any  fancied  goodness  of  heart  or  blameless- 
ness  of  life  be  taken  as  a  substitute  for  soundness  in  the 
faith;  and  this  because  God  is  greater  than  man,  and 
nothing  in  us  can  ever  justify  that  obscuring  of  His  glory, 
which  is  the  fruit  of  falsehood  touching  His  character 
and  ways. 

We  are  to  "  hold  fast  the  form  of  sound  words," 
which  the  Church  has  chosen  to  express  and  transmit 
the  truth,  because  there  is  "  one  faith  "  throughout 
all  ages;  and  all  novelties  which  set  aside  the  uninter- 
rupted and  harmonious  traditions  of  the  Past,  are  for  that 
very  reason  to  be  rejected.  The  great  facts  of  Chris- 
tianity are  not  now  to  be  revealed;  they  have  been  the 
possession  of  the  Church  from  the  beginning.  And  we 
should  walk  with  trembling  earnestness  in  the  footsteps 
of  the  fathers,  not  turning  aside  in  the  wantonness  of  self- 
confidence  to  find  out  paths  for  ourselves,  but,  remember- 
ing the  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost  with  His  people  in  all 
generations,  give  reverent  heed  to  the  testimony  He  hath 
borne  in  them.  That  testimony  has,  no  doubt,  been 
hindered  by  the  Church  falling  into  fleshliness,  binding 
the  Spirit  in  the  bonds  of  the  intellect,  and  losing  that 
unity  which  is  essential  to  its  being  filled  with  light;  but,, 
nevertheless,  it  has  been  borne;  and  those  who  have 
patience  to  search  for  it  amidst  the  rubbish  of  mere 
human  additions  and  corruptions,  will  find  the  pure  gold 
of  the  truth.  For  the  "  faith  "  has  been  "  one  "  in  all 
generations;  the  "  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  more  or  less 
mutilated  or  perverted,  has  been  received  into  the  heart 


Farewell  Sermon  231 

of  the  faithful ;  and  so  the  promise  of  the  Lord  has  been 
fulfilled,  that  He  would  be  with  them  to  the  end  of  the 
world. 

And  faith,  viewing  it  as  the  act  of  going  out  of  our- 
selves, and  laying  hold  of  God,  as  the  embracing  of  the 
truth,  for  "  with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteous- 
ness," has  also  been  one,  being  the  operation  of  the  one 
Spirit  in  all  that  believe,  enabling  them  to  yield  them- 
selves to  the  Divine  working,  and  making  them  capable 
of  receiving  His  blessing.  It  has  been  one,  though  its 
fruits  have  been  manifold,  according  to  the  good  pleas- 
ure of  His  will.  All  blessings  have  been  to  faith.  It  is 
the  open  and  outstretched  hand  into  which  the  gift  has 
been  put.  Of  itself  it  effects  nothing,  but  it  puts  us  in 
a  position  to  be  made  the  subjects  of  the  mighty  opera- 
tions of  God.  By  faith  Enoch  was  translated,  but  it  was 
God  that  translated  him.  By  faith  the  patriarchs  ob- 
tained the  promises,  but  it  was  God  that  fulfilled  them. 
And  the  Church,  with  all  its  ordinances,  gifts  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  rule  of  the  Lord,  is  utterly  in  vain  to  unbe- 
lief. In  vain  is  the  blood  of  the  atoning  sacrifice,  though 
truly  shed  for  the  sins  of  every  man,  where  there  is  no 
submission  of  the  heart  through  faith  to  its  cleansing 
power.  Unbelief  closes  every  avenue,  so  that  grace  can 
find  no  entrance,  and  makes  the  word  of  promise  utterly 
void.  It  is  faith  that  makes  the  power  of  God  to  become 
ours,  and  that  opens  the  way  for  the  streams  of  His 
blessings  to  flow  through  all  the  regions  of  the  life.  And 
the  triumphs  of  the  faith  now  should  be  as  large  as  at  the 
first,  for  the  promise  is  one  —  the  same  to  us  as  to  them, 
unchangeable  to  the  end. 

And  one  Baptism.  Faith  does  not  supersede  the  ne- 
cessity of  the  gifts  and  operations  of  God,  but  prepares 
us  to  receive  them  rightly.  It  is  the  open  mouth,  but 
not  the  food.     God  can  give  to  faith  blessings  which 


2  32        William  Watson  Andrews 

faith  could  never  originate.  And  the  great  blessing  of 
the  Christian  dispensation  is  such, —  a  blessing  which 
faith  could  not  obtain,  and  did  not  obtain,  for  righteous 
men  of  old.  They  received  according  to  the  measure  of 
God's  working  in  their  day,  but  when  the  Lord  had  risen 
from  the  dead,  and  gone,  in  manhood,  unto  the  throne 
of  the  Father,  He  had  a  new  gift  to  bestow,  even  the  life 
and  power  of  His  own  resurrection.  He  then  became 
the  First-begotten  from  the  dead,  the  corner-stone  of  the 
new  creation,  the  head  and  fountain  of  a  royal  seed  such 
as  could  not  be  till  manhood  had  been  redeemed  and 
lifted  above  the  curse  ;  and  His  great  work  now  is  to  im- 
part and  nurture  and  develop  the  Life  which  He  received 
by  being  born  out  of  the  womb  of  the  grave.  Jesus,  the 
Risen  One,  is  a  new  Man,  and  we  are  made  new  men  in 
Him,  by  being  joined  unto  Him,  and  made  members  of 
His  flesh  and  of  His  bones.  The  "  new  creature  "  is 
true  of  none  that  are  not  in  Christ,  and  is  therefore  the 
peculiarity  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  disciples  had 
it  not  till  Jesus  was  risen,  for  they  had  not  received  the 
Holy  Ghost — (John  vii.  39);  it  is  the  "better  thing" 
which  the  Patriarchs  had  not  received,  but  which  God 
has  given  to  us  in  His  Son — (Heb.  xi.  40).  And  He  gives 
it  to  faith.  Faith  is  not  the  gift,  but  prepares  the  way 
for  it.  He  that  believes  has  already  been  the  subject  of 
a  Divine  operation,  but  not  of  that  by  which  a  man  is 
made  a  member  of  Christ.  That  is  effected  in  an  ordi- 
nance, in  the  sacrament  of  Baptism,  wherein  we  are  born 
from  above,  and  receive  the  life  that  is  hidden  with 
Christ  in  God.  So  our  Lord  declared  to  Nicodemus, 
when  explaining  the  mystery  of  the  second  birth.  "  Ex- 
cept a  man  be  born  of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he  cannot 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God,"  cannot  be  a  member  of 
that  heavenly  polity  —  the  fruit  of  our  Lord's  ascension 
into  glory  —  the  least  in  which  is  greater  than  John  the 


Farewell  Sermon  233 

Baptist,  who  was  the  greatest  in  the  inferior  dispensation. 
And  who  that  considers  the  analogy  of  God's  works,  the 
union  of  the  material  and  the  spiritual  in  man,  and  how 
the  life  derived  from  the  first  Adam — the  germ  of  body, 
soul,  and  spirit  —  is  transmitted  by  an  ordinance,  and 
through  the  instrumentality  of  parents,  albeit  it  is  the 
very  workmanship  of  God  —  who  that  considers  this  will 
think  it  incredible  that  the  life  of  the  second  Adam 
should  be  given  by  the  ministry  of  the  Church,  which  is 
the  Mother  of  us  all  ? 

There  is  nothing  in  the  language  of  our  Lord  and  His 
Apostles,  nothing  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  from  the 
earliest  times,  to  justify  the  notion  that  Baptism  is  a  bar- 
ren ceremony.  They  ever  speak  of  it  as  an  act  of  God, 
wherein  we  are  buried  with  Christ,  and  also  risen  with 
Him  through  the  faith  of  the  operation  of  God,  who  hath 
raised  Him  from  the  dead — (Col.  ii.  12);  as  a  putting 
on  of  Christ — (Gal.  iii.  27);  as  the  washing  of  regenera- 
tion—  (Tit.  iii.  5);  and  as  the  means  by  which  we  are 
made  members  of  His  mystical  body  —  (i  Cor.  xii.  13). 
And  if  it  be  said  that  most  often  no  fruit  of  spiritual  life 
is  brought  forth  in  the  baptized,  let  us  look  again  at  the 
analogy  in  the  lower  realms  of  natural  life.  How  many 
of  the  seeds  of  autumn,  each  of  which  has  in  it  a  living 
germ,  are  trodden  down  on  the  beaten  highway,  or  rot  in 
the  marsh;  how  many,  in  which  germination  is  begun, 
prematurely  decay  and  fail  of  bringing  forth  fruit.  And 
shall  we  dare  to  say  that  Baptism  has  done  nothing  for 
our  children,  when  through  our  unbelief,  and  negligence, 
and  fleshly  ways,  the  babe  of  the  Spirit  has  found  no 
nourishment  and  fostering  care,  but  the  roots  of  evil  in 
the  flesh  have  been  awakened  into  activity  and  growth  ? 
Is  the  planting  of  the  seed  enough,  without  warmth  and 
moisture  and  light  and  skilful  nurture  ?  If  we  have  for- 
gotten the  reality  of  the  Covenant,  and  treat  our  baptized 


2  34        William  Watson  Andrews 

little  ones  as  if  they  were  not  of  the  flock  of  Christ, 
shall  we  wonder  if  they  look  on  themselves  as  aliens,  and 
walk  in  the  evil  ways  of  the  world  ?  Let  us,  dear  brethren, 
rather  take  shame  and  confusion  of  face  to  ourselves, 
that  we  have  counted  God's  ordinances  an  empty  form, 
and  suffered  His  lambs,  on  whom  His  holy  seal  has  been 
set,  to  forget  that  they  were  of  His  fold.  Let  us  stir  up 
our  faith  to  train  them  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition 
of  the  Lord  —  in  that  nurture  which  befits  those  that  are 
the  Lord's — dealing  with  them  as  of  the  household  of 
God,  and  speaking  to  them  in  the  language  of  His 
fatherly  love  and  counsel  ;  and  verily  we  shall  not  find 
Him  unfaithful  to  His  Covenant. 

Nor  does  the  reality  of  Baptism,  as  truly  grafting  us  into 
the  Body  of  Christ,  conflict  at  all  with  the  great  truth  of 
an  Election,  known  only  to  God,  whose  names  are  written 
in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life.  His  secret  and  inscrutable 
purposes  cannot  contradict  His  present  actings,  and  we 
may  not  deny  that  spiritual  blessings  are  truly  given  in 
His  ordinances,  although  no  fruit  is  perfected  save  in  the 
company  of  hidden  ones,  predestined  from  eternity  unto 
the  glory  of  the  kingdom. 

And  one  God  and  Father  of  all.  The  three  Persons 
are  inseparably  one,  but  it  is  the  prerogative  of  the 
Father,  as  the  First  Person  in  the  Godhead,  to  be  the 
fountain  of  all  being,  from  whom  the  Son  and  the  Spirit 
everlastingly  proceed,  and  in  whose  absolute  will  all  pur- 
poses of  creation,  redemption,  and  glory,  have  their 
origin.  He  dwells  forever  in  the  invisible,  in  the  light 
which  no  one  can  approach  unto,  and  no  one  hath  seen 
Him,  or  can  see  Him.  The  only-begotten  Son  hath  de- 
clared Him,  coming  forth  from  His  bosom  to  be  "  God 
manifest  in  flesh,"  and  so  to  reveal  within  the  limits  of 
manhood  all  that  creatures  can  ever  know  of  the  awful 
mysteries  of  the  Divine  existence.     And  while  the  Son 


Farewell  Sermon  235 

is  joined  unto  the  creature  by  the  act  of  His  Incarnation, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost  dwells  in  the  creature  to  work  the 
good  pleasure  of  God,  the  Father  is  personally  separate, 
and  dwells  apart  in  His  incommunicable  glory,  that  at 
His  feet  the  homage  of  the  whole  creation  may  be  laid. 
Jesus,  when  upon  earth,  was  ever  obedient  to  the  Father's 
will,  and  as  the  Head  of  the  Church  He  will  be  ever  obe- 
dient unto  it,  carrying  up  unto  Him  all  things  which  He 
hath  redeemed,  and  leading  the  sorfgs  and  thanksgivings 
of  all  creatures  throughout  eternity.  This  will  be  the 
completion  of  the  great  Redemptive  work,  when,  every 
knee  having  been  made  to  bow  at  the  Name  of  Jesus,  and 
every  tongue  to  confess  Him  to  be  Lord,  He  shall  pre- 
sent all  as  an  offering  to  the  Father,  and  the  glory  of  the 
one  Triune  God  shall  henceforth  be  reflected  from  every 
region  of  His  works. 

Such,  dear  brethren,  has  been  the  substance  of  my 
teachings  since  the  Lord  has  set  me  over  you.  The  great 
aim  of  all  my  ministrations  has  been  to  lead  you  up  into 
the  knowledge  of  Christ.  He  has  been  held  up  before 
you  as  the  Eternal  Son  of  God,  one  with  the  Father  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  yet  out  of  love  becoming  very  man  by 
taking  our  nature  all  marred  and  blighted  by  the  Fall; 
as  dying  for  the  reconciling  of  the  world,  and  abolishing 
sin  by  the  one  sacrifice  of  His  Cross;  as  rising  from  the 
dead  in  the  same  body  which  was  crucified  through 
weakness,  and  so  accomplishing  the  redemption  of  man, 
and  becoming  the  first-fruits  of  the  new  creation ;  as  be- 
ing crowned  with  glory  and  honor  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  Father,  and  made,  as  man,  Head  over  all  to  the 
Church;  as  receiving  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  sending  Him 
from  heaven  for  the  forming  of  His  Body,  which  is  of 
His  flesh  and  His  bones,  and  is  destined  to  be  one  with 
Him  in  the  rule  of  the  kingdom,  the  eternal  instrument  for 
executing  the  purposes  of  the  Godhead;  as  interceding 


236        William  Watson  Andrews 

for  us  before  the  Throne,  in  virtue  of  His  atoning 
blood,  while  He  accomplishes  a  like  intercession  through 
the  ministry  of  His  Priesthood  on  the  earth;  and  as  to 
come  again  in  power  and  majesty,  to  judge  the  world, 
cast  out  the  usurper,  the  prince  of  the  power  of  darkness, 
purge  the  earth  from  all  iniquity,  remove  the  curse,  and 
rule  in  righteousness  with  His  risen  saints  over  the  na- 
tions of  the  saved.  I  have  told  you  of  the  greatness  of 
that  love  which  was  manifested  in  the  yielding  up  of  His 
life  for  all,  and  of  the  perfect  reconciliation  which  He 
effected  of  the  world  to  God,  who  now  does  not  impute 
their  trespasses  unto  them,  and  have  besought  you  to 
yield  yourselves  up  by  faith  to  be  made  partakers  of  His 
salvation. 

Diligently  have  I  striven  to  show  the  flock  on  whom 
the  holy  seal  of  Baptism  has  been  set,  the  dignity  of 
your  heavenly  calling,  your  oneness  with  Christ,  the 
title  you  have  received  to  the  inheritance  of  His  king- 
dom, and  your  right  to  the  rich  endowments  of  the  Holy 
Ghost;  and  have  exhorted  you  not  to  frustrate  the  grace 
of  God  by  unbelief,  but,  having  faith  in  the  reality  of 
your  standing  as  baptized  into  the  Lord's  death,  your- 
selves to  die  daily,  and  daily  to  rise  into  newness  of  life. 
I  have  taught  you  that  Jesus  is  the  Lord,  and  that  you 
are  bound  to  honor  Him  in  all  whom  He  sets  over  you, 
throughout  all  His  ordinances,  subduing  your  own  wills, 
and  meekly  yielding  obedience  to  those  in  whom  He  is 
represented;  and  have  warned  you  against  that  lawless 
spirit  now  everywhere  breaking  forth,  which  says,  "  Our 
lips  are  our  own;  who  is  lord  over  us  ?  "  And  I  have 
remembered  the  word  of  the  Lord  concerning  the  watch- 
man of  the  people,  that  "  if  he  see  the  sword  come,  and 
blow  not  the  trumpet,  and  the  people  be  not  warned;  if 
the  sword  come,  and  take  away  any  person  from  among 
them,  he  is  taken  away  in  his  iniquity;  but  his  blood  will 


Farewell  Sermon  237 

I  require  at  the  watchman's  hands."  I  have  seen  the 
sword  coming,  the  sword  of  the  Lord's  judgment  in  the 
great  day  of  His  wrath,  and  have  sounded  the  trumpet 
of  alarm.  I  have  pointed  out  to  you  the  forerunners  of 
that  hour,  when  He  cometh  out  of  His  place  to  punish 
the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  for  their  iniquity,  as  they  can 
be  seen  by  all  eyes  in  the  mingled  distress  and  confusion 
and  perplexity  of  the  nations;  in  the  fast-swelling  tide 
of  rebellion  against  all  the  ordinances  of  God  in  the 
Church  and  in  the  State;  in  the  fierce  tempest  of  popular 
fury  before  which  the  thrones  of  Christendom  are  shak- 
ing and  falling  like  the  decayed  forest  trees  before  the 
wintry  blast;  and  in  the  strength  of  that  unbelief  which 
not  only  mocks  at  the  old  superstitions,  but  is  eating  out 
all  faith  in  the  reality  of  God's  presence  and  workings  in 
the  earth. 

I  would  have  had  you  lift  up  your  heads  with  joy, 
in  the  hope  of  the  redemption  drawing  nigh,  being 
washed  in  the  cleansing  blood;  or,  if  still  in  your  sins, 
have  turned  you  to  the  hiding-place  before  the  bursting 
of  the  storm.  And  seeing  the  desolate  and  unprepared 
state  of  the  Church,  I  have  sought  to  lay  upon  your 
hearts  the  burden  of  its  schisms,  its  cruel  jealousies,  the 
defilements  which  profane  it,  the  quenching  of  the  Holy 
One  in  the  midst  of  it,  and  the  sore  captivity  into  which 
it  is  brought  to  the  powers  of  this  world,  and  to  stir  you 
up  to  the  confession  of  the  common  sin,  to  strong  cryings 
out  of  the  depths  for  deliverance  through  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to  the  laying  hold  in  faith  of  the  ful- 
ness of  the  promises  of  God.  I  have  shown  you  the 
glorious  things  that  are  written  of  the  Church  as  the 
Body  and  Fulness  of  Christ;  which  once  began  to  be 
accomplished  in  the  brightness  of  her  morning;  which 
have  sunk  out  of  sight  in  the  long,  dark  night  that  has 
succeeded;  but  which  are  to  be  realities  again  in  the  day 


238        William  Watson  Andrews 

when  the  latter  rain  shall  be  given,  and  the  Bride  shall 
make  herself  ready;  and  have  urged  you  to  seek  for  the 
baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  we  might  come  behind 
in  no  gift,  waiting  for  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

Such  have  been  the  themes  of  my  teaching,  and  the 
aims  of  my  ministry;  and  ye  must  judge,  as  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Him  who  will  judge  you,  whether  they  have  been 
according  to  the  mind  of  God.  I  know,  and  confess 
with  shame  and  sorrow  of  heart,  in  what  weakness  I  have 
been  amongst  you,  and  how  many  shortcomings  and 
negligences  have  hindered  the  fruitfulness  of  my  labors. 
But  such  as  they  have  been,  their  record  is  with  God, 
who  will  indeed  judge  us,  but  will  also  forgive  the 
repenting. 

You  know  that  I  leave  you,  not  as  a  self-willed  breaker 
of  bonds,  not  as  a  seeker  after  fame  or  emoluments,  not 
as  weary  of  the  quiet  course  of  a  pastoral  life,  not  as  un- 
thankful for  your  many  tokens  of  love,  not  as  a  self- 
righteous  separatist  from  the  churches  in  the  bosom  of 
which  the  Lord  hath  blessed  me  hitherto;  but  in  obedi- 
ence to  His  will.  He  has  called  me,  in  a  way  that  I 
clearly  recognize  as  His,  to  serve  Him  in  that  work  of 
restoring  His  Church  by  which  He  is  making  ready  for 
the  marriage  of  the  Lamb,  and  the  glory  of  the  kingdom 
that  shall  follow.  It  is  a  work  for  the  blessing  of  all, 
and  I  give  myself  to  it  with  joy,  knowing  that  you  will 
be  blessed  in  my  faithfulness,  and  through  my  sacrifice. 
When  the  stronghold  of  an  enemy  is  to  be  stormed,  and 
a  breach  opened  in  the  walls  for  the  army  to  enter  in,  the 
perilous  work  is  committed  to  a  few  who  are  willing  to 
lay  down  their  lives  in  the  fore-front  of  the  battle,  that 
all  may  win  the  victory.  Such  a  work  the  Lord  is  now 
giving  to  the  willing-hearted,  who  see  the  thickening 
dangers  of  the  fiery  fight,  and  know  the  end  to  be  at 


Farewell  Sermon  239 

hand;  that  by  being  witnesses  for  God  against  the  trans- 
gressions of  His  people;  bearing  the  burden  of  the  com- 
mon desolation,  and  being  broken  with  penitence  for  the 
universal  failure  of  the  Church;  by  continually  present- 
ing unto  Him  supplications,  prayers,  and  intercessions  in 
behalf  of  all  men,  and  especially  that  Jesus  would  come 
to  the  deliverance  of  the  weary  and  travailing  creation; 
and  by  yielding  themselves  up  to  the  cleansing  of  His 
restored  ordinances;  they  may  hasten  His  kingdom,  and 
bring  in  that  salvation  for  which  even  the  Church,  which, 
hath  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit,  doth  ever  groan.  And 
I  rejoice  in  the  assurance  that  many  who  cannot  now 
discern  the  way  of  their  Lord,  but  count  it  foolishness, 
will  yet  be  blessed  through  the  effectual  intercessions 
going  up  from  His  rebuilded  altar. 

And  yet,  dear  brethren,  though  I  feel  all  confidence 
that  I  am  doing  the  will  of  God,  it  is  not  without  many 
pangs  of  heart  that  this  bond  is  broken.  The  years  of 
my  residence  with  you,  though  not  without  burdens  and 
sorrows,  have  flowed  peacefully,  and  I  have  ever  been 
helped  by  your  affection.  If  my  ministry  has  been  a 
blessing  to  any  of  you,  in  leading  you  into  the  knowledge 
of  God,  in  comforting  your  sorrowing  hearts,  in  quick- 
ening in  you  holy  desires  and  affections,  and  in  making 
the  heavenly  hope  more  bright  along  your  pathway,  I 
am  thankful;  and  I  do  earnestly  pray  that  the  good  seed 
that  has  been  sown,  in  much  weakness  and  with  many 
tears,  may  yet  spring  up  and  bring  forth  a  plentiful  har- 
vest in  the  salvation  of  many  who  shall  be  my  crown  of 
rejoicing  in  the  day  of  the  Lord.  And  as  I  shall  speak 
to  you  no  more  in  the  pastor's  place,  let  me  once  again 
bear  to  you  the  message  of  your  God.  Once  more  let 
rae  invite  the  disobedient  and  unthankful  wanderer  to 
return  ashamed  and  penitent  to  his  Father's  house;  to 
leave  the  strange  land  where  he  must  assuredly  perish, 


240        William  Watson  Andrews 

and  go  back  to  find  the  outstretched  arms,  and  the  open 
door,  and  the  robe  to  cover  his  nakedness.  Let  me 
whisper  in  your  ears  of  the  love  that  imputeth  not  in- 
iquity, that  is  long-suffering  and  kind,  that  hath  put 
away  all  your  sins  through  the  blood  of  Jesus,  and 
beseech  you  to  yield  yourselves  to  it,  and  be  saved. 

Let  me  remind  you,  my  children  of  the  flock,  whom 
the  Lord  hath  adopted  and  sealed  in  holy  Baptism,  of 
the  great  work  He  hath  done  for  you  in  making  you 
fellow-heirs  with  His  own  dear  Son,  in  separating  you 
from  the  world  that  lieth  in  wickedness,  and  giving  you  a 
place  in  His  own  household,  where  is  bread  enough  and 
to  spare.  Let  your  faith  give  a  joyful  response  to  your 
adoption,  and  walk  as  His  dear  children,  grieving  not 
the  Spirit  whom  He  hath  given  you,  but  growing  ever- 
more into  the  life  and  joy  and  fulness  of  your  Head. 

And  to  you  all,  and  especially  to  the  heads  of  the 
households  of  the  congregation,  let  me  say,  in  the  words 
of  Paul  the  prisoner  of  the  Lord,  and  as  one  who  has 
long  borne  the  captivity  of  the  Church  with  you,  "  Walk 
worthy  of  the  vocation  wherewith  ye  are  called,  with  all 
lowliness  and  meekness,  with  long-suffering,  forbearing 
one  another  in  love:  endeavoring  to  keep  the  unity  of 
the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace."  Remember  that  you 
are  called  to  a  continual  denial  of  yourselves,  to  the 
painful  crucifixion  of  the  flesh  that  lusts  to  break  out  in 
hatred,  variance,  emulations,  wrath,  strife,  envyings; 
and  so  present  your  bodies  continually  a  living  sacrifice 
unto  God;  that  ye  be  "  kindly  affectionate  one  to  an- 
other with  brotherly  love;  in  honor  preferring  one  an- 
other." Do  all  things  in  Christ's  Name,  and  for  His 
sake;  bear  the  desolateness  and  sorrow  in  which  you 
may  feel  yourselves  to  be  left,  as  He  bore  a  darker  deso- 
lateness and  a  heavier  sorrow;  and  forget  not  the  Church 
which  He  purchased  with  His  own  precious  blood.    Take 


Farewell  Sermon  241 

pleasure  in  the  stones  and  dust  of  Zion,  and  do  what  in 

you  lies  to   strengthen  the  things  that  remain  and  are 

ready  to  die,  and  to  make  ready  the  way  for  the  Lord's 

appearing.     And  oh,  desire  that  ye  may  be  visited  and 

lifted  up  and  receive  of  the  fulness  of  His  heavenly  gifts, 

and  so  be  of  that  glorious  company  of  the  sealed  ones, 

whom  the  Lord  is  now  gathering  to  be  the  first-fruits  of 

the  redeemed  creation  unto  God  and  the  Lamb. 

Soon,  very  soon,  shall  this  world,  and  the  fashion  of 

it,  have  passed  away,  and  the  kingdom  be  revealed  which 

standeth  forever.     Soon,  very  soon,  shall  the  sleeping 

saints  over  whom  the  Lord  watcheth,  and  among  them 

the  dear  ones — yours  and  mine — whom  we  together  have 

buried  out  of  our  sight,  come  to  us  again,  to  go  down  into 

death  no  more.     Let  us  therefore  walk  as  those  whose 

citizenship  is  in  heaven,  from  whence  also  we  look  for 

the  Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  God  may  grant 

us  all  the  joy  of  a  reunion  then. 
16 


3.— ADDRESS   GIVEN   ON    THE   SIXTIETH 
ANNIVERSARY  OF  HIS  ORDINATION 

By  William  Watson  Andrews 

DELIVERED    AT   THE   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH,    KENT,    CONN,, 
MAY    27,    1894 


I  HAVE  a  fourfold  reason  for  being  with  you  to-day: 
First,  to  express  my  thankfulness  to  God  for  setting 
me  here  as  your  pastor  in  the  freshness  of  my  youth, 
and  for  enabling  me  to  minister  to  you  for  fifteen  years 
of  (for  the  most  part)  vigorous  and  hopeful  manhood, 
and  my  thankfulness  to  you  for  your  patience  with  me  in 
my  shortcomings,  and  your  generous  sympathy  with  me 
in  one  long  illness.  Second,  to  show  my  love  for  you, 
which  has  not  been  weakened  by  the  lapse  of  five  and 
forty  years.  Third,  to  restate  the  great  truths  about 
Christ,  and  His  Church,  and  His  kingdom,  which  were 
the  themes  of  my  pleaching.  And  fourth,  to  express 
my  longings  for  you  in  the  present  disturbed  and  perilous 
condition  of  Christendom,  that  you  may  be  awake  to  the 
crisis,  and  be  prepared  for  the  glory  of  the  coming 
kingdom. 

I  graduated  at  Yale  College,  September,  1831,  where 
I  had  for  a  classmate,  with  many  other  able  and  excel- 
lent men,  the  late  President  Porter,   who  was  also  my 

242 


Anniversary  Address  243 

■neighbor  as  pastor  of  the  church  in  New  Milford  from 
1836  to  1843,  and  with  whom  I  kept  up  an  affectionate 
friendship  to  the  end.  My  circumstances,  as  the  son  of 
a  poor  New  England  minister,  made  it  necessary  that  I 
should  teach  after  leaving  college;  and  the  two  following 
years  I  taught  in  Virginia,  and  in  Washington  and  Corn- 
wall in  this  county. 

During  my  last  year  in  college  a  mighty  spiritual  move- 
ment swept  over  our  country  and  other  countries,  and 
many  of  my  classmates  then  entered  earnestly  upon  a  re- 
ligious life,  most  of  whom  chose  for  their  profession  the 
Christian  ministry.  It  was  then  that  for  the  first  time  I 
made  a  public  profession  of  religion ;  or,  as  I  should  now 
express  it,  renewed  the  vows  of  my  baptism,  and  was  re- 
ceived to  the  communion  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  I  then 
relinquished  my  purpose  of  studying  law,  and  dedicated 
myself  to  the  service  of  Christ  in  His  Church.  As  I 
could  not  command  time  nor  money  for  a  regular  course 
in  a  theological  school,  I  put  myself,  while  teaching, 
under  the  general  direction  of  one  of  the  ministers  of  the 
neighborhood,  as  was  the  custom  in  the  old  New  Eng- 
land days  (in  this  instance  my  father),  and  read  theology 
with  him. 

In  September,  1833,  I  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Litchfield  North  Association  at  Norfolk  in  this  county, 
and  immediately  began  my  work,  though  continuing  to 
teach  through  the  following  winter.  One  advantage  I 
received  from  my  want  of  theological  training  in  the 
regular  schools,  was,  that  my  studies  and  preaching  were 
more  Biblical  than  they  otherwise  would  have  been.  I 
searched  the  Scriptures,  not  so  much  to  find  proof-texts 
to  support  a  certain  system  of  doctrine,  e.  g.,  the  old 
New  England  Calvinism,  as  to  learn  from  them  what 
God  had  revealed  to  men,  especially  about  His  work  of 
redemption  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     I  made  Him  the 


244        William  Watson  Andrews 

centre  of  my  work  in  the  study  and  the  pulpit.  The  first 
sermon  I  preached  after  my  licensure  was  in  the  neigh- 
boring parish  of  Ellsworth,  from  the  words  of  St.  Peter 
about  "  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  the  glory  that  should 
follow"  (i  Peter  i.  ii).  That  struck  the  key-note  of 
all  that  has  followed  in  my  public  ministry.  To  know 
and  to  set  forth  Him  who  redeemed  the  world  by  His  in- 
carnation, and  humiliation  unto  death,  and  then  by  giving 
to  our  nature  the  glory  of  the  resurrection,  which  glory 
His  Church  is  to  share  with  Him  when  He  comes  again, 
—  this  was  my  aim  from  the  beginning,  and  gave  the 
direction  to  my  whole  ministerial  life. 

I  was  first  invited  to  preach  at  New  Hartford,  and  soon 
afterwards  at  Kent;  and  I  well  remember  my  first  min- 
istry amongst  you  at  the  funeral  of  Miss  Jane  Mills, 
oldest  daughter  of  John  Mills,  Esq.,  then  one  of  the 
deacons  of  the  church, —  a  lady  held  in  highest  love  and 
honor  for  her  abundant  Christian  labors.  The  rooms  of 
that  spacious  house  were  crowded  with  sympathizing 
friends;  and  I  began  my  work  amongst  you  as  a  com- 
forter of  the  sorrowing  by  opening  to  them  the  treasures 
of  God's  love  and  pity.  To  this  my  heart  was  ever 
drawn,  not  so  much  to  denounce  His  judgments  on  His 
enemies,  or  to  unravel  the  intricacies  of  theological  strife, 
as  to  show  the  depths  of  His  love  for  us  as  seen  in  the 
Lamb  of  God,  who  first  took  away  the  sin  of  the  world 
on  His  cross,  and  then  overcame  the  power  of  death  for 
us  in  His  resurrection. 

I  was  called  at  the  same  time  by  the  churches  in  New 
Hartford  and  Kent  to  become  their  pastor,  and  acting 
on  the  advice  of  my  father,  as  well  as  from  the  drawings 
of  my  own  heart,  I  cast  in  my  lot  with  you.  Kent  had 
been  without  a  pastor  for  five  years:  ever  since  the  dis- 
missal of  my  honored  predecessor.  Dr.  Laurens  P. 
Hickok;  and  I  was  the  first  on  whom  the  church  and 


Anniversary  Address  245 

congregation  had  been  able  to  unite.  This  seemed  to  be 
an  indication  from  God  that  He  would  have  me  take  the 
long-vacant  place  and  do  here  the  pastor's  work.  Be- 
sides, I  was  drawn  by  the  secluded  beauty  of  this  valley, 
with  its  sheltering  hills  and  overhanging  mountains,  its 
many  smaller  valleys  running  into  each  other  in  their 
winding  courses;  and  the  river,  full  of  life  and  joy, 
washing  the  feet  of  the  hills,  or  lighting  up  the  meadows 
with  its  silvery  brightness.  It  seemed  a  fit  spot  for  quiet 
study  and  the  pastor's  life,  shut  out  as  it  was  from  the 
noise  and  bustle  of  the  world,  and  inviting  to  devout 
meditation  and  communion  with  the  Creator  of  all  this 
beauty  of  rugged  mountain,  and  rushing  river,  and  hill- 
sides sloping  upward  to  the  sky,  and  musical  waterfalls 
filling  the  hidden  glens  with  their  melody. 

And  so  I  came  to  Kent,  and  on  the  21st  of  May,  1834, 
I  was  ordained  your  pastor  by  the  North  Consociation 
of  Litchfield  County.  Few  are  left  to-day  who  were 
present  at  the  solemn  services.'  My  father,  who  preached 
the  ordination  sermon  from  St.  Paul's  words,  "  Study  to 
show  thyself  approved  unto  God,  a  workman  that  needeth 
not  to  be  ashamed,  rightly  dividing  the  word  of  truth  " 
(2  Tim.  ii.  15);  the  Rev.  Mr.  Perry,  of  Sharon,  who,  if 
I  remember  right,  made  the  ordaining  prayer;  the  Rev. 
Hart  Talcott,  of  Warren,  one  of  the  saintliest  and  most 
lovable  of  men,  and  of  most  excellent  gifts  as  a  preacher, 
and  who  gave  one  of  the  addresses  to  the  flock  or  to  the 
pastor;  Mr.  Lathrop,  of  Salisbury;  Mr.  Eldridge,  of 
Norfolk;  Mr.  Smith,  of  North  Cornwall  (a  native  of 
Kent) ;  Mr.  Gridley,  of  Ellsworth ;  Mr.  Cowles,  of  North 
Canaan;  and  Mr.  Prentice,  of  South  Canaan;  and  Dr. 
Hickok,  then  of  Litchfield,  who,  though  not  a  member 

'  Among  the  very  few  living  and  present  on  this  anniversary  was 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Birdseye  G.  Northrup,  who  grew  up  under  my  pastoral 
care.     (He  has  since  died,  after  a  long  and  useful  life.) 


246        William  Watson  Andrews 

of  the  Consociation,  was  present  from  his  interest  in 
Kent, —  all  have  long  since  rested  from  their  labors,  and 
I  alone  remain  to  make  grateful  mention  of  them  to-day 
for  their  offices  of  love  in  giving  me  to  you,  and  you  to 
me,  in  the  holy  ties  which  bind  to  each  other  the  pastor 
and  the  flock. 

I  well  remember  the  solemnity  of  that  day's  services. 
I  believed  in  the  Christian  ministry  as  of  God,  and  I 
desired  and  expected  to  receive  a  spiritual  blessing  by 
the  "  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery  ":  those 
ministers  who  had  already  been  ordained  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  Congregational  churches  of  Connecti- 
cut, And  I  never  doubted  that  I  did  receive  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  at  that  time,  and  in  that  service,  for  the 
work  whereunto  I  was  then  set  apart:  the  double  work 
of  feeding  the  flock  of  Christ  and  expounding  the  oracles 
of  God.  I  have  learned  since  then  to  value  still  more 
highly  the  ordinances  and  rites  instituted  by  Christ  in 
His  Church;  but  I  rejoice  that  I  entered  on  my  ministry 
here  in  faith  that  the  Holy  Ghost  was  then  ministered  to 
me  by  the  hands  of  His  servants,  and  that  to  me  was  ful- 
filled in  some  degree  the  word  of  Paul  to  Timothy,  of 
"  the  gift  of  God,  which  is  in  thee  by  the  putting  on  of 
my  hands.  For  God  hath  not  given  us  the  spirit  of  fear; 
but  of  power,  and  of  love,  and  of  a  sound  mind  "  (2  Tim. 
i.  6,  7). 

And  so  I  began  my  ministry  amongst  you,  now  sixty 
years  ago.  And  I  am  reminded,  and  we  all  must  be 
struck  with  their  appropriateness,  of  the  words  of  the 
Preacher,  "  One  generation  passeth  away,  and  another 
generation  cometh;  but  the  earth  abideth  forever" 
(Eccl.  i.  4).  The  same  mountains  stand  firm  to-day  in 
their  rocky  fastnesses ;  the  same  hillsides  are  pastured  by 
flocks  and  herds ;  the  same  meadows  are  clothed  with  the 
greenness  of  the  spring;  and  the  same  river  here  rushes 


Anniversary  Address  247 

and  roars  in  its  rapids,  and  there  sleeps  in  its  quiet 
pools;  but  all  else  how  changed!  Almost  two  genera- 
tions have  come  and  gone  since  the  Great  Shepherd 
committed  to  me  the  care  of  His  flock  in  Kent.  Those 
that  were  then  children  have  become  old;  the  middle- 
aged  of  that  day  have  passed  away,  and  their  places  know 
them  no  more.  And  the  old  men  who  then  welcomed 
me  to  heal  the  wounds  of  a  sorely  divided  church,  have 
long  been  resting  in  their  graves.  Whole  families  have 
become  extinct  by  death  or  by  removal;  names  and 
families  are  no  longer,  or  scarcely,  associated  with  the 
living,  as  Mills,  and  Raymond,  and  Beach,  and  Pratt, 
and  Bordwell,  and  Comstock,  and  Fuller,  and  Smith, 
and  many  more.  A  single  representative  sometimes  re- 
mains where  large  families  then  flourished.  The  deacons 
whom  I  found  at  the  head  of  the  flock,  Lewis  and  John 
Mills,  have  long  since  fallen  asleep ;  and  the  three  who 
were  set  in  the  office  during  my  ministry,  Barnum,  Berry, 
and  Ashbell  Fuller,  are  no  longer  amongst  the  living. 

And  yet  to  my  memory  and  my  heart  it  is  the  old  Kent 
still.  The  ties  then  formed  no  lapse  of  years,  no  ravages 
of  death,  can  sever.  The  memories  associated  with  it  are 
too  precious  to  fade  away.  All  its  mountains  I  have 
traversed,  by  day  and  by  night,  to  seek  out  the  wander- 
ing, to  give  light  and  peace  to  the  sick,  and  to  comfort 
the  sorrowing.  In  all  its  schoolhouses  I  have  taught  the 
people  of  the  several  districts;  and,  as  a  school  visitor, 
I  caused  to  be  printed  on  a  little  sheet  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
the  Ten  Commandments,  and  the  Apostles'  Creed,  and 
gave  them  to  the  children  for  weekly  study,  and  to  be 
examined  upon  at  a  subsequent  visitation.  Nor  was  I 
ever  blamed  for  this  mingling  of  religious  with  secular 
instruction. 

There  was  a  simplicity  of  faith  and  a  reverential  spirit 
in  the  people  which  drew  my  heart  to  them,  and  made 


248        William  Watson  Andrews 

my  labors  amongst  them  easy  and  delightful.  There 
lingered  much  of  the  old  respect  for  the  ministries  of 
Christ,  and  the  ordinances  of  His  Church,  and  of  venera- 
tion for  the  Holy  Scriptures;  and  if  any  of  the  flock  were 
sometimes  troubled,  as  no  doubt  they  were,  by  teachings 
that  went  beyond  the  low-water  mark  of  Christian  doc- 
trine, and  lifted  them  into  fields  of  thought  to  which  they 
had  not  been  accustomed,  I  always  found  that  by  hold- 
ing before  me,  and  as  it  were  hiding  myself  behind,  the 
plain  words  of  the  Bible,  they  were,  if  not  fully  satisfied, 
at  least  hushed  into  silence. 

And  so  my  ministry  passed  in  great  harmony,  and  with 
no  rending  of  visible  unity.  There  were  no  factions  or 
parties  in  the  church.  I  honored  specially  the  deacons, 
and  sought  to  lift  them  up  into  their  true  place  as  active 
helpers  of  the  pastor,  standing  between  him  and  the  flock 
to  bring  to  him  knowledge  both  of  their  temporal  and 
spiritual  wants,  acquired  by  them  in  their  more  familiar 
intercourse  with  the  people  in  the  daily  business  of  life. 
For  a  number  of  years  we  met  regularly  at  each  other's 
houses  to  take  counsel  about  the  affairs  of  the  church; 
and  their  wives  were  often  with  us,  as  a  kind  of  deacon- 
esses, to  aid  us  in  caring  for  the  poor  and  sick  of  the 
flock.  This  was  the  longest  step  I  ever  took  in  the 
direction  of  (so-called)  Woman's  Rights. 

My  labors  were  once  interrupted  by  a  severe  and  pro- 
tracted trouble  of  the  throat,  which  utterly  disabled  me 
from  preaching  for  a  year  and  a  half.  In  May,  1842,  I 
broke  down  through  the  failure  of  my  voice,  much  to  my 
surprise  as  well  as  sorrow,  for  I  had  thought  it  equal  to 
all  demands  which  my  public  labors  could  make  upon  it, 
and  had  used  it  without  stint.  The  following  summer, 
and  autumn,  and  winter  were  a  time  of  sore  trial,  though 
I  was  able  to  fulfil  many  pastoral  labors.  But  my 
brethren  in  the  ministry  were   kind,   and   volunteered 


Anniversary  Address  249 

their  help;  and  the  people  were  patient,  and  bore  their 
deprivations  with  cheerfulness.  Neither  of  us  spoke  of 
breaking  the  pastoral  bond,  which  almost  ten  years  of 
harmony  had  made  very  strong,  but  we  waited  together, 
hoping  for  my  recovery. 

I  had  long  been  interested  (indeed,  from  the  ending 
of  my  college  life)  in  a  spiritual  movement  in  Scotland 
and  England,  which  claimed  to  be  a  revival  of  the  gifts 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  in  the  beginning  of  the  Church,  and 
a  restoring  of  its  original  ministries,  to  prepare  the  way 
for  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  and  as 
I  was  wholly  disabled  from  preaching,  I  took  the  oppor- 
tunity of  visiting  those  countries  for  the  double  purpose 
of  regaining  my  health  and  of  learning  from  personal 
observation  what  the  fruits  of  the  movement  had  been. 
So  in  March,  1843,  I  left  my  family  and  flock,  and  sailed 
for  England  in  one  of  the  famous  packet-ships  of  that 
day.  It  was  a  bold  undertaking,  and  I  look  back  upon 
it  now  with  wonder  that  I  had  courage  to  face  the  diffi- 
culties, and  with  thankfulness  that  God  enabled  me  to 
surmount  them,  and  brought  me  back  in  the  following 
October  with  greatly  improved  health,  and  with  my  faith 
confirmed  that  He  was  beginning  to  fulfil  to  His  Church 
His  promises,  "  I  will  pour  out  my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh; 
and  your  sons  and  your  daughters  shall  prophesy  "  (Joel 
ii.  28) ;  and  "  I  will  restore  thy  judges  as  at  the  first,  and 
thy  counsellors  as  at  the  beginning  "  (Isaiah  i.  26).  But 
it  was  no  divisive  or  sectarian  work,  and  I  returned  to 
my  flock  to  resume  my  pastoral  labors  as  before,  intro- 
ducing no  changes,  but  seeking  to  give  greater  fulness  of 
life  and  light  to  my  preaching,  and  greater  power  of  edi- 
fication to  our  sacraments  and  worship.  And  I  wish  here 
to  express  my  gratitude  to  the  people  who  waited  so  pa- 
tiently for  my  recovery,  and  my  admiration  of  the  wis- 
dom, and  fidelity,  and  sweet  endurance  of  the  beloved 


250        William  Watson  Andrews 

wife,  now  sleeping  amongst  you  in  the  Lord,  upon  whom 
rested  in  my  absence,  in  no  small  degree,  the  burden  of 
the  flock  as  well  as  of  her  family;  for  she  carried  on 
wholly  the  correspondence  necessary  to  provide  for  the 
supply  of  the  pulpit. 

And  what  were  the  great  themes  of  my  ministry  during 
those  fifteen  years  ?  Nothing  less,  and  nothing  more, 
than  the  old  Christian  faith.  I  preached  to  you,  and  ta 
your  fathers,  the  fulness  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  accord- 
ing to  the  measure  of  my  gift,  I  could  say  with  Paul, 
"  I  determined  not  to  know  anything  among  you  save 
Jesus  Christ,  and  Him  crucified  ";  Christ,  the  only  be- 
gotten Son  of  God,  dwelling  eternally  in  the  Father's 
bosom,  the  Second  Person  in  the  adorable  Godhead; 
Christ,  made  very  man  by  His  birth  of  a  human  mother, 
the  Virgin  Mary,  through  the  supernatural  working  of 
the  Holy  Ghost;  Christ,  who  died  upon  the  cross  after  a 
life  of  spotless  obedience,  that  He  might  be  the  Lamb  of 
God,  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world;  and  Christ 
risen  from  the  dead  in  the  body  in  which  He  was  cruci- 
fied, in  which  He  ascended  also  to  the  right  hand  of 
God,  thus  redeeming  manhood  from  the  curse  and  power 
of  death,  and  exalting  it  into  the  very  glory  of  the  eternal 
throne.  This  was  the  substance  of  my  preaching.  And 
this  is  the  old  Christianity,  believed  in  by  the  Church  in 
all  ages,  and  embodied  in  all  her  creeds  of  the  greatest 
authority.  And  it  can  never  cease  to  be  true.  What 
was  true  of  Him  eighteen  centuries  ago  is  true  to-day, 
and  will  be  true  to-morrow,  and  evermore:  "  Jesus 
Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever." 

I  did,  indeed,  dwell  with  strong  emphasis  on  the  true 
humanity  of  our  Lord,  as  one  with  us  by  the  ties  of  a 
common  nature,  so  that  He  could  enter  into  all  our  ex- 
periences of  temptation,  and  trial,  and  sorrow,  and  know 
how  to  sympathize  with  us,  and  intercede  for  us.     He 


Anniversary  Address  251 

became  one  with  us  in  our  ruin,  that  we  might  become 
one  with  Him  in  the  glory  into  which  He  exalted  our 
fallen  nature.  It  has  been  too  common  in  New  England 
to  stop  at  His  cross,  so  precious  has  been  the  doctrine 
of  forgiveness  through  His  blood;  but  He  did  not  stop 
there,  and  I  called  on  you  to  follow  Him  coming  forth 
from  the  grave  as  man  in  the  same  nature  in  which  He 
was  born  into  the  world,  but  transfigured  in  His  resur- 
rection. His  body  was  then  pervaded  and  energized  by 
a  new  life  which  death  cannot  touch,  and  in  it  He 
ascended  into  heaven.  Man  then,  for  the  first  time,  sat 
in  the  Father's  throne  and  stood  at  the  heavenly  altar. 
He  came  forth  as  God;  He  returned  also  as  Man,  and 
in  manhood  was  made  King  and  Priest  to  rule  and  bless 
the  whole  creation  of  God. 

Nor  was  this  all  the  message  which  God  sent  me  to 
bear  to  you.  For  the  work  of  Christ  is  not  yet  ended. 
There  remains  still  a  mighty  step  for  our  risen  and  glori- 
fied Lord  to  take.  He  was  not  permitted  to  remain  on 
the  earth  but  forty  days  after  His  resurrection,  and  He 
went  away  leaving  it  as  full  of  sin  and  misery  as  He 
found  it.  He  left  Satan,  the  great  enemy  of  God  and 
man,  to  go  about  in  it  tempting  men  to  their  ruin,  and 
death  and  the  grave  to  continue  their  murderous  work  of 
swallowing  up  in  swift  succession  all  the  generations  of 
the  living.  But  these  conflicts,  and  sufferings,  and 
abominations  of  wickedness  are  not  to  last  forever.  The 
Church,  which  is  the  wife  elect  of  the  Lamb,  He  has  been 
gathering  out  of  the  world  these  many  centuries,  and  the 
marriage  is  yet  to  come,  when  the  glorified  Bridegroom 
shall  take  to  Himself  His  glorified  bride,  and  with  her 
rule  and  bless  the  earth.  Then  He  will  cast  out  the  foul 
spirits  who  have  oppressed  and  defiled  it,  and  loosen  the 
bands  of  the  grave,  and  shed  through  all  lands  the  joy 
of  His  presence  and  the  glory  of  His  throne.     And  I  did 


252        William  Watson  Andrews 

not  feel  that  I  had  fully  delivered  my  message,  and  un- 
folded to  you  in  its  length  and  breadth,  and  depth  and 
height,  the  mystery  of  Christ,  without  telling  you  of  His 
coming  again,  according  to  His  promise,  to  establish  His 
kingdom  of  righteousness  and  peace  over  all  the  earth. 

And  I  was  wont  to  speak  to  you,  also,  of  the  Church 
as  a  Divine  institution,  having  God,  not  man,  for  its 
builder,  and  Christ,  not  man,  for  its  Head,  furnished  with 
sacraments  and  ministries  of  His  appointment  by  which 
He  would  convey  spiritual  blessings  to  all  who  believed 
in  Him;  filled  with  a  heavenly  life;  brought  into  the 
closest  unity  with  Christ  as  "  members  of  His  body,  of 
His  flesh,  and  of  His  bones  ";  and  called  to  the  highest 
honor  which  any  creatures  can  attain,  even  beyond  that 
of  the  cherubim  and  the  seraphim;  for  they  are  minister- 
ing spirits,  mighty  servants  of  God  and  of  Christ,  sent 
forth  to  minister  for  us  who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation 
(Heb.  i.  14). 

These,  brethren,  dearly  beloved,  were  the  chief  themes 
of  my  ministry  during  the  years  in  which  I  labored 
amongst  you;  and  they  have  been  my  themes  in  all  the 
years  that  have  followed,  and  will  be  as  long  as  I  have  a 
voice  to  speak  of  Christ,  our  Redeemer.  And  why,  you 
may  ask  me,  did  you  not  continue  to  teach  them  to  us  ? 
Why  did  you  break  the  holy  bond  which  held  you  and 
us  together,  and  give  up  the  care  of  a  flock  which  you 
loved  so  well  ?  It  was  not  because  I  had  ceased  to  love 
you,  or  doubted  your  love  for  me;  nor  was  it  because  I 
was  ambitious  of  a  wider  field,  where  I  could  be  more  in 
the  world's  eye;  nor  because  I  wanted  better  opportuni- 
ties for  the  education  of  my  children,  or  a  larger  salary 
to  make  provision  for  my  family.  None  of  these  reasons 
influenced  me.  I  was  satisfied  with  the  work  given  me 
to  do,  and  felt  that  its  responsibilities  were  all  that  I 
wished  to  bear.     My  intercourse  with  my  brethren  in  the 


Anniversary  Address  253 

ministry  was  in  all  respects  agreeable  and  edifying.  The 
ministers  of  the  neighborhood  were  wont  to  hold  monthly 
meetings  at  each  other's  houses,  assembling  on  the  Tues- 
day for  dinner,  holding  public  services  in  the  afternoon 
or  evening  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  and  giving  the 
rest  of  the  time  till  the  middle  of  the  following  day  to 
the  reading  and  examination  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the 
discussion  of  subjects  related  to  our  work  as  Christ's 
ministers.  One  of  those  neighboring  pastors,  whom 
many  of  you  will  remember,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Reid,  of  Salis- 
bury, a  very  intimate  and  dear  friend,  was  one  of  the 
most  impressive  preachers  I  ever  heard.  It  was  an  in- 
spiration to  listen  to  him.  Intercourse  with  him  was 
always  refreshing  and  uplifting,  and  one  of  the  regrets  at 
leaving  Kent  was  that  I  should  thus  lose  the  society  of 
brethren  whom  I  held  so  dear. 

But  there  have  ever  been  times  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  Jewish  and  Christian,  when  God's  servants  have 
been  called  on  by  Him  to  make  sacrifices  for  His  cause; 
foregoing  their  own  pleasure  and  advantage  for  the  sake 
of  helping  Him  in  some  new  step  He  was  taking  in  His 
work  of  redemption.  It  was  a  Divine  call  which  led 
Abram  to  forsake  his  kindred  and  his  father's  home,  and 
to  become  a  pilgrim  and  a  stranger  in  a  land  which  all 
his  life  long  he  should  not  inherit,  with  the  promise  of  a 
Seed  in  whom  all  the  families  of  the  earch  should  be 
blessed.  It  was  a  Divine  call  which  led  Moses  to  give 
up  the  royal  prospects  of  Pharaoh's  court,  and  afterwards 
his  tranquil  shepherd's  life,  and  his  wife  and  children,  in 
the  land  of  Midian,  that  he  might  be  God's  instrument 
in  delivering  the  chosen  nation  from  the  house  of  bond- 
age. And  greatest  of  all,  and  beyond  compare,  was  the 
sacrifice  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  who,  in 
obedience  to  a  Divine  commandment,  and  yet  out  of  the 
fulness  of  his  heart  of  love,  "  being  rich,  for  our  sakes 


2  54        William  Watson  Andrews 

became  poor,  that  we,  through  His  poverty,  might  be- 
come rich."  And  so,  following  His  example,  multitudes 
in  every  age  have  given  up  for  Christ's  sake  houses  and 
lands,  and  the  ties  of  family,  and  the  blessings  of  civil- 
ized life,  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  the  ignorant  and  the 
perishing. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  my  early  hope  of  the  Lord's 
return  to  the  earth  to  finish  His  work  of  redemption,  and 
of  my  faith  that  He  had  begun  to  restore  those  gifts  and 
ministries  which  He  gave  at  the  first,  to  make  His  Church 
ready  for  His  coming.  Such  were  my  faith  and  hope 
during  all  the  years  of  my  ministry  amongst  you;  but  I 
saw  in  this  no  reason  why  I  should  not  become  and  con- 
tinue to  be  your  pastor.  The  restoration  of  apostles  and 
prophets  did  not,  of  itself,  make  this  my  work  unlawful. 
They  were  restored  for  the  blessing  of  the  whole  Church, 
and  I  used  the  light  I  received  from  them  for  the  more 
full  instruction  of  my  flock  in  the  doctrine  of  Christ. 
But  after  some  years,  in  which  I  had  fully  shown  my  at- 
tachment to  the  church  of  my  fathers,  I  was  asked  if  I 
were  willing  to  take  part  in  a  special  work  they  were 
doing,  which  was  necessary  to  be  done  before  the  Lord's 
return,  and  which  I  could  not  do  simply  as  a  Congrega- 
tional minister,  for  it  was  outside  of  and  beyond  Congre- 
gationalism, and  Episcopacy  as  well,  and  every  other 
ecclesiastical  system  of  the  time.  Had  I  been  a  minister 
in  any  of  the  other  divisions  of  the  Church  I  should  have 
done  what  I  did,  not  as  condemning  any,  but  because 
God  was  beginning  a  work  which  none  of  them  claimed 
to  be  doing,  or  was  able  to  do.  A  few  words  of  explana- 
tion will,  I  think,  make  this  plain  to  you.  Our  Lord,  in 
His  parables,  illustrates  the  history  of  Christianity  by  the 
figure  of  a  field  in  which  He  sows  good  seed,  and 
the  enemy  sows  tares.  Both  are  to  grow  together  till 
the  harvest,  when  the  separation  will  take  place,  and  the 


Anniversary  Address  255 

children  of  the  kingdom  will  be  gathered  into  the  garner 
of  the  great  Husbandman,  while  the  tares  will  be  de- 
stroyed (Matt.  xiii.  37-43).  "  The  harvest,"  He  says, 
"  is  the  end  of  the  world  "  (the  age,  present  dispensa- 
tion, or  order  of  things) ;  and  then  the  whole  company 
of  the  faithful  will  "  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  king- 
dom of  their  Father."  This  is  the  time  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, at  the  Lord's  return.     So  far  all  is  plain. 

But  God  commanded  the  Jews  that  before  they  reaped 
the  harvest,  a  sheaf  of  the  first  ripe  stalks  should  be 
taken  out  of  the  field  and  carried  into  the  tabernacle,  or 
temple,  as  an  offering  to  Him  to  sanctify  the  harvest 
(Lev.  xxiii.  10,  11).  Till  this  was  done  no  sickle  could 
be  put  into  the  field.  It  was  one  sheaf  for  the  whole 
land,  not  one  from  every  man's  barn.  The  priest 
gathered  it  from  the  neighborhood  of  Jerusalem  (after 
the  building  of  the  temple),  as  a  representative  act  for 
the  nation.  We  should  naturally  expect  that  the  same 
law  would  hold  good  in  the  spiritual  harvest,  and  that  a 
small  company  would  first  be  made  ready  for  the  Lord, 
and  be  taken  to  meet  Him,  before  the  innumerable  multi- 
tude that  is  to  form  the  harvest.  And  although  nothing 
is  said  of  it  in  the  parable,  yet  we  find  in  the  Revelation 
of  St.  John,  mention  of  a  company  standing  with  the 
Lamb  on  Mount  Zion,  numbered  144,000,  who  are 
called  ' '  a  first- fruit  unto  God  and  the  Lamb. ' '  And  in 
the  same  chapter,  a  few  verses  later,  the  reaping  of  the 
harvest  \%  described  (Rev.  xiv.  1-6,  and  14-16). 

Both  these  companies  are  Christians;  both  will  have 
their  places  in  the  kingdom  of  God  as  members  of  the 
one  Church  of  Christ,  the  difference  being  that  the  smaller 
company  is  first  ready,  and  first  caught  away  to  meet  the 
returning  Lord.  The  first-fruits  are  not  a  different  kind 
of  grain  from  the  harvest,  but  a  part  of  the  same  grain 
ripened  earlier  than  the  rest.     If  a  very  dear  friend  were 


256        William  Watson  Andrews 

coming  to  visit  you,  you  would  select  the  first  ripe  fruit 
from  your  orchard  and  garden  to  set  before  him;  not 
thereby  condemning  the  rest  as  worthless,  but  rejoicing 
that  it  too  would  ripen  in  its  season. 

So  the  purpose  of  God  is  to  save  His  whole  Church, 
not  an  insignificant  part  of  it, — a  mere  144,000, — but  all 
who  receive  His  message  of  forgiveness,  and  follow  His 
Son  in  obedience  of  life.  The  preparing  of  His  first- 
fruits  is  a  step  toward  the  reaping  of  the  harvest.  And 
those  who  help  Him  in  this  work  are  hastening  the  de- 
liverance and  blessing  of  the  whole  Church,  and,  ulti- 
mately, of  the  whole  groaning  creation.  For  the  Church, 
of  which  His  Son  is  the  all-glorious  and  all-powerful 
Head,  is  to  be  His  instrument  for  the  salvation  of  all  the 
families  of  the  earth:  first,  of  the  chosen  tribes  of  Israel; 
and  then,  through  their  agency,  also  of  all  nations  and 
tongues  in  all  lands,  excepting  only  those  who  refuse  to 
be  saved.  And  this  was  the  work  for  which  I  gave  up 
all  that  was  dearest  to  me  in  this  world, — the  joy  of  feed- 
ing the  flock  of  God  to  which  I  had  been  wedded  in  my 
youth,  and  the  blessings  of  household  life;  for  my  home 
was  necessarily  broken  up  when  I  left  you,  and  the  bur- 
den of  a  desolate  life  was  laid  upon  me  for  many  years. 

And  if  you  ask  me  who  these  first-fruits  are,  and 
wherein  they  are  unlike  their  brethren,  I  answer  that 
they  are  Christians  after  the  order  of  Paul,  rejoicing  in 
the  same  hope  of  the  Lord's  speedy  return  which  com- 
forted him  in  his  tribulations,  and  possessing  (by  the  gift 
of  God)  the  same  manifestations  of  the  Spirit,  and  the 
same  ministries  of  Christ,  which  he  describes  so  fully  in 
his  Epistles  (i  Cor.  xii. ;  Eph.  iv.  1-16).  Apostles  and 
prophets,  a  crown  of  glory  to  the  early  Church,  have  been 
restored,  and  a  new  light  has  been  thrown  upon  our 
pathway  in  these  last  days.  So  far  as  they  have  been 
received,   they   have   recovered  the   true   order  of   the 


Anniversary  Address  257 

Lord's  house,  and  made  His  worship  to  be  in  the  beauty 
of  holiness,  gathering  into  unity  the  most  precious  things 
in  the  forms  of  worship  of  all  Christian  bodies  through- 
out the  world.  They  hold  the  fulness  of  the  Christian 
faith,  and  through  the  supernatural  manifestations  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  his  presence  as  the  Comforter  has  become 
a  living  reality.  They  hold  all  Christians  as  brethren, 
recognizing  the  one  baptism  in  whatever  form  it  be  ad- 
ministered, whether  by  sprinkling,  or  pouring,  or  im- 
mersion, or  whether  in  infancy  or  adult  age,  provided  it 
be  with  water  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity;  and  they 
pray  continually  for  the  whole  Church,  confessing  the 
sins  of  all,  and  seeking  the  blessing  of  all,  especially  the 
great  deliverance  of  the  resurrection,  and  the  glory  that 
is  to  follow. 

Such,  dear  brethren,  are  the  first-fruits;  not  another 
sect  striving  for  worldly  power  and  influence,  and  waging 
war  with  all  who  differ  from  them,  but  a  company  who 
are  first  to  hear  and  respond  to  the  midnight  cry,  "  Be- 
hold, the  Bridegroom  cometh;  go  ye  out  to  meet  Him  "  ; 
and  who,  being  loosened  from  all  sectarian  bonds,  and 
brought  under  special  Divine  guidance,  are  enabled  to 
"  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  He  goeth."  It  was  to 
this  company  that  I  was  joined  when  I  left  you,  and  with 
it  I  have  remained  in  communion  as  a  fellow- worker 
these  five  and  forty  years;  first  as  the  pastor  of  a  small 
congregation  in  St.  Lawrence  County,  N.  Y,,  but  after- 
wards, and  mainly,  as  an  evangelist  in  many  parts  of  our 
own  country  and  in  Canada;  while  I  have  visited  other 
lands,  also,  and  have  preached  in  some  of  the  principal 
cities  of  England  and  Scotland. 

And  so,  brethren,  you  have  the  story  of  my  public  life 
in  its  main  outlines,  and  know  what  have  been  the  aims 
of  my  ministry  since  we  parted  with  mutual  affection. 
Do  }'ou  ask  me  whether  I  have  not  been  disappointed  in 


258        William  Watson  Andrews 

the  fruits  of  my  labors,  and  in  the  results  of.  the  religious 
movement  to  which  my  life  has  been  dedicated  ?  I  an- 
swer, Yes;  as  the  Lord  was  disappointed  when  He  wept 
over  Jerusalem,  and  said,  "  How  often  would  I  have 
gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth 
her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not  ";  and 
as  He  spake  in  Isaiah,  "  Behold,  I  have  labored  in  vain, 
and  spent  my  strength  for  naught,  and  in  vain."  I  have 
been  disappointed  that  He  has  been  pleased  so  long  to 
delay  His  coming,  although  I  never  professed  to  know 
when  the  time  would  be.  I  have  been  disappointed  that 
the  hope  of  His  coming  has  been  welcomed  by  so  few; 
and  that  the  gifts  of  His  Spirit,  with  which  He  would 
adorn  His  bride,  have  been  so  little  desired.  And  I 
take  shame  and  confusion  of  face  to  myself,  that,  from 
my  own  shortcomings,  my  labors  have  been  so  unfruitful, 
without  bating  one  jot  of  heart  and  hope,  or  being  shaken 
in  the  smallest  degree  in  the  faith  that  we  are  come  to  the 
time  of  the  end,  that  God  is  about  to  send  His  Son  from 
heaven,  and  that  He  is  surely  and  steadily,  though  it  may 
.seem  slowly  to  us,  preparing  His  way. 

But  these  past  years  have  not  brought  disappointment 
-only.  There  has  been  a  double  growth  in  this  work  of 
making  ready  the  sheaf  of  first-fruits;  a  growth  without, 
and  a  growth  within.  The  number  of  churches  and  con- 
gregations has  greatly  increased,  and  they  are  found  now 
in  most  of  the  Protestant,  and  some  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic countries  of  Europe;  and  there  has  been  an  inward 
spiritual  advancement  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  in  the 
power  of  holy  worship,  and  in  weanedness  from  the 
world,  and  transformation  into  the  heavenly  mind.  How 
soon  the  last  stalk  may  be  added  to  the  sheaf  is  known 
only  to  God,  but  the  work  of  gathering  goes  on  without 
interruption,  and  will  go  on  to  the  end. 

And  surely  no  thoughtful  Christian  can  doubt  that  we 


Anniversary  Address  259 

are  living  in  most  perilous  times,  and  that  the  world  is 
moving  on  with  ever-increasing  and  terrible  swiftness  to 
the  great  crisis  of  its  history.  Our  Lord  foretold  that 
before  His  coming  there  should  be  "  distress  of  nations 
with  perplexity,  the  sea  and  the  waves  roaring;  men's 
hearts  failing  them  for  fear,  and  for  looking  after  those 
things  which  are  coming  on  the  earth  "  (Luke  xxi.  25, 
26);  and  what  a  succession  of  revolutions  and  fierce  and 
bloody  wars,  involving  the  mightiest  nations,  have  we 
not  seen  within  less  than  the  half  century!  The  over- 
turnings  of  '48  and  '49,  in  which  the  Pope  was  compelled 
to  flee  from  Rome;  Louis  Philippe,  the  King  of  the 
French,  from  Paris;  and  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  from 
Vienna,  with  insurrections  and  barricades  in  almost 
every  capital  of  Europe;  the  war  in  the  Crimea,  shortly 
after,  between  Russia  on  the  one  hand  and  France  and 
England  on  the  other,  ending  in  the  humbling  of  the 
mighty  Colossus  of  the  North ;  the  revolt  of  the  Sepoys  in 
India  in  1857,  marked  by  fearful  atrocities,  and  bringing 
the  dominion  of  England  to  the  very  verge  of  ruin ;  the 
struggle  in  Italy  about  the  same  time,  in  which  Austria 
was  despoiled  of  her  Italian  possessions,  opening  the  way 
for  the  loss  of  the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope;  our  own 
tremendous  Civil  War,  almost  without  a  parallel  for  the 
gigantic  scale  on  which  it  was  carried  on,  and  the  enor- 
mous waste  of  blood  and  treasure,  ending  in  the  overthrow 
of  slavery — a  blessed  consummation,  but  a  revolution  of 
the  whole  structure  of  society  in  our  Southern  States;  a 
short,  sharp  fight  between  Austria  and  Prussia  a  year  or 
two  later,  ending  in  the  complete  discomfiture  of  the 
former;  and  the  conflict  a  few  years  later  between  France 
and  Germany,  bringing  upon  Louis  Napoleon  the  loss  of 
his  empire,  the  overthrow  of  his  dynasty,  and  the  utter 
humiliation  of  his  country:  what  a  catalogue  of  terrible 
and  devastating  conflicts  is  this!     Surely  there  has  been 


26o        William  Watson  Andrews 

in  our  day,  as  perhaps  never  before,  "  distress  of  nations 
with  perplexity."  But  the  Lord  follows  this  dark  de- 
scription with  a  word  of  hope:  "  And  when  these  things 
begin  to  come  to  pass,  then  look  up,  and  lift  up  your 
heads;  for  your  redemption  draweth  nigh," — a  promise 
to  the  first-fruits  of  a  way  of  escape  that  shall  be  opened 
to  them  before  the  distress  reaches  its  consummation. 

But  you  will  remind  me  that  there  is  another  and  very 
different  feature  of  our  times,  which  it  would  not  be  fair 
to  overlook;  viz.,  the  wonderful  growth  of  the  Christian 
nations  in  material  power  and  prosperity,  through  the 
discoveries  of  science  and  mechanical  inventions.  These 
sixty  years  have  seen,  not  only  steamships  ploughing  the 
ocean,  and  winning  a  great  mastery  over  its  winds  and 
waves,  and  railroads  bringing  into  close  and  easy  con- 
nection cities  and  countries  which  it  once  took  long  and 
painful  journeys  to  reach,  but  the  telegraph  and  the  tele- 
phone, carrying  our  messages  across  the  sea,  and  enabling 
us  to  talk  to  far-distant  friends,  as  it  were,  face  to  face. 
And  how  has  the  face  of  the  earth  been  changed  by  the 
skilful  labors  of  man,  and  beauty  and  fruitfulness  made 
to  abound  where  all  was  barren  and  unsightly!  In  many 
lands  the  wilderness  has  literally  been  made  to  bud  and 
blossom  as  the  rose. 

Yes,  this  is  most  true,  and  there  is  nothing  unlawful  in 
this  use  of  the  powers  of  nature  for  the  advantage  of 
mankind.  Man  was  placed  in  the  earth  to  subdue  it,  to 
cultivate  its  fields,  to  bridge  its  rivers,  to  drain  its  marshes, 
to  tunnel  its  mountains,  to  dig  silver  and  gold  out  of  its 
bowels,  and  in  all  ways  to  tame  it  and  beautify  it  to  the 
utmost  of  his  power.  The  snare  lies  in  thinking  that  he 
can  thus  get  rid  of  the  curse,  and  bring  back  the  long- 
lost  paradise.  In  spite  of  all  that  man  can  do,  the  earth 
will  still  be  full  of  disorder  and  evil;  disease  will  ravage 
it,  death  will  triumph  in  it,  storms  will  sweep  over  it  with 


Anniversary  Address  261 

resistless  fury,  frost  will  blight  its  growing  fruits,  the 
lightnings  of  heaven  will  smite  it,  earthquakes  will  shatter 
it  and  level  its  palaces  and  temples  to  the  dust,  and  vol- 
canoes will  be  as  the  open  mouths  of  hell,  vomiting  forth 
the  flaming  lava  to  cover  its  fruitful  fields. 

We  are  never  to  forget  that  these  disorders  of  the  earth 
are  the  fruit  of  sin,  whether  in  angels  or  men;  and  that 
He  who  created  it  and  blotted  out  its  sin  by  His  blood, 
and  took  His  body  from  the  power  of  the  grave,  alone 
can  bring  into  it  order  and  peace.  Man  can  mitigate  the 
curse,  but  he  cannot  remove  it.  He  can  guide,  in  some 
measure,  the  forces  of  nature,  but  he  cannot  bring  them 
under  his  control.  He  cannot  say  to  the  lightning.  Break 
not  forth  from  the  cloud;  nor  to  the  wind  and  waves.  Be 
still.  He  who  taught  us  to  pray,  "  Thy  kingdom  come. 
Thy  will  be  done  on  earth,  even  as  it  is  done  in  heaven," 
and  He  alone,  can  bring  into  the  laws  and  forces  of  the 
earth  the  harmonies  of  heaven ;  and  this  He  will  do  when 
He  comes  in  His  glory  to  finish  His  redemptive  work. 
There  are  promises  reaching  into  the  future  which  cannot 
be  fulfilled  by  man.  There  are  evils  inwrought  into  the 
very  structure  of  humanity,  and  into  the  constitution  of 
nature,  which  no  merely  human  power  or  skill  can  re- 
move. Man  has  had  his  trial  for  six  thousand  years,  and 
has  failed.  Our  only  hope  lies  in  Him  who  was  promised 
to  bruise  the  serpent's  head,  and  thus  to  deliver  the  earth 
and  man  from  the  awful  burden  under  which  they  have 
been  for  long  ages  groaning. 

And  we  should  expect  His  coming  to  be  preceded  by 
wonderful  movements,  both  for  good  and  for  evil.  The 
wheat  and  the  tares  are  both  to  ripen  for  the  harvest. 
And  so  we  find  these  last  sixty  years  to  have  been  a  time 
of  unprecedented  religious  activity.  The  command  of 
our  Lord  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  all  nations  has  been 
obeyed  with  freshly  awakened  zeal.      Many   countries 


262        William  Watson  Andrews 

have  heard  the  glad  tidings  for  the  first  time,  and  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of  converts  have  been  brought  out 
of  heathenism  into  the  Church  of  Christ.  Our  own 
country  has  been  traversed  by  faithful,  devoted  men  and 
women  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  from  North  to  South. 
The  freedmen  have  been  sought  out,  and  schools  and 
colleges  established  amongst  them;  the  poor  whites  have 
been  visited  amongst  the  mountains  of  the  South;  the 
slums  of  our  cities  have  been  explored;  and  we  might 
almost  say  that  a  new  era  of  philanthropy  had  dawned 
upon  the  world. 

But  the  tares  were  to  ripen  along  with  the  wheat. 
And  so  we  find  it  now.  Even  philanthropy  is  turned 
into  a  curse.  We  cannot  be  blind  to  the  growing  discon- 
tent amongst  the  laboring  classes  all  over  the  world,  and 
their  disposition  to  rise  up  against  the  laws  and  institu- 
tions of  society.  They  are  clamoring  for  the  abolition 
of  all  inequalities  of  property,  and  of  all  social  distinc- 
tions; and  a  spirit  of  bitter  hatred  is  taking  possession 
of  multitudes,  leading  to  strikes,  and  insurrections,  and 
deeds  of  violence.  They  say  they  want  the  kingdom 
here  and  now  on  the  earth  as  it  is,  or  as  man  can  make 
it,  not  in  some  distant  heaven;  and  now,  not  after  death, 
when  their  bodies  are  crumbled  in  the  grave,  and  they 
can  get  no  more  good  out  of  them.  They  will  not  be 
put  off  with  a  far-off  paradise ;  they  do  not  want  a  Chris- 
tianity which  does  not  promise  them  the  good  things  of 
this  life;  and  they  scoff  at  the  Church  because  she  does 
not  transform  herself  into  a  society  for  almsgiving,  and 
leave  the  doctrine  of  Christ  out  of  sight. 

And,  alas!  in  too  many  quarters  the  Church  is  yield- 
ing to  this  temptation,  and  forgetting  her  heavenly  calling 
as  a  Divine  witness  to  the  crucified  and  glorified  Saviour 
of  the  world.  She  gives  the  loaves  and  fishes  which 
men  are  hungering  for,  but  keeps  back  the  story  of  the 


Anniversary  Address  263 

cross  and  of  the  resurrection.  And  she  is  in  danger  of 
sinking  down  into  a  mere  worldly  institution,  aiming  to 
make  the  present  life  more  comfortable,  instead  of  pre- 
paring for  "  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth,  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness." 

In  many  other  ways,  also,  is  the  decay  of  the  old  Chris- 
tian faith  apparent.  There  is  great  increase  of  intel- 
lectual activity,  and  men  are  exploring,  as  never  before, 
the  laws  of  the  heavens  and  of  the  earth,  the  secrets  of 
the  past,  and  everything  that  can  be  searched  into. 
Nothing  is  too  sacred  for  investigation,  and  this  without 
reverence  and  holy  fear.  The  Bible  is  put  on  a  level 
with  other  books,  as  if  it  were  the  product  of  man's  in- 
tellect, and  not  a  revelation  from  God,  requiring  for  its 
comprehension  the  illumination  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by 
whose  inspiration  it  was  given.  The  consequence  is  that 
truth  is  slightingly  spoken  of  under  the  name  of  dogma  j 
and  it  is  fast  coming  to  be  thought  that  what  a  man  be- 
lieves about  God,  and  how  he  worships  Him,  are  of  little 
account,  provided  he  behaves  himself  well  to  his  neigh- 
bor. The  age  is  breaking  with  the  past,  and  casting 
away  its  worn-out  creeds  and  institutions.  Man  feels 
that  he  has  outgrown  his  minority,  that  he  is  come  of 
age,  and  that  it  is  time  to  be  setting  up  for  himself; 
time  to  put  away  childish  things, —  those  which  pleased 
and  satisfied  the  childhood  of  the  world, —  and  rise  up 
into  the  dignity  and  independence  of  manhood.  In 
many  hearts  the  thought  is  growing  that  God  has  had 
His  day,  and  that  it  is  man's  turn  now.  We  know  that 
this  is  the  drift  of  opinion  amongst  the  intellectual  classes, 
from  whom  it  gradually  filters  down  to  the  masses ;  and 
that,  if  not  arrested,  the  consummation  will  be,  man  his 
own  creator,  and  deliverer,  and  judge.  The  most  hope- 
less form  of  wickedness  will  be,  humanity  calling  itself 
God,  claiming  His  attributes,  and  sitting  on  His  throne. 


264        William  Watson  Andrews 

Closely  connected  with  this  drifting  away  from  the  old 
Christian  faith,  is  the  disposition  to  break  down  the  dis- 
tinctions of  nature,  as  well  as  of  society  and  the  Church, 
and  to  reduce  our  life  to  a  dead  level  of  monotony.  The 
beauty  and  blessedness  of  life  grow  out  of  the  differences 
of  sex,  and  age,  and  condition.  Man  and  woman,  hus- 
band and  wife,  father,  mother,  and  child,  form  the  family, 
which  these  very  diversities  fill  with  a  deeper  and  purer 
joy.  It  is,  indeed,  impossible  to  introduce  perfect 
equality  and  sameness  into  it,  so  deeply  do  these  distinc- 
tions enter  into  the  very  structure  of  humanity;  but  the 
attempt  to  do  it  must  produce  discord  and  misery.  The 
whole  creation  is  full  of  differences,  and  it  is  this  which 
gives  to  it  its  beauties  and  harmonies.  The  sun  to  rule 
the  day,  and  the  moon  to  rule  the  night;  the  air  of  heaven 
for  us  to  breathe,  the  light  of  heaven  to  illumine  our  path, 
and  the  rain  from  heaven  to  quench  our  thirst, — how  un- 
like they  are  to  each  other,  and  what  different  laws  they 
obey!  And  every  living  thing  consists  of  many  parts, 
each  of  which  has  its  own  work  to  do,  and  not  one  of 
which  can  be  dispensed  with  without  injury  to  the  whole. 

Now,  it  is  an  evil  mark  of  our  time  that  the  great  dis- 
tinctions in  human  society,  from  the  family  upwards,  are 
becoming  confused,  and  the  Divine  order  established  for 
mankind  in  danger  of  being  overthrown.  There  is  an 
unwillingness  to  submit  to  rule,  and  to  acknowledge  any 
authority  as  derived  from  God,  which  threatens  a  social, 
and  spiritual,  and  political  chaos.  For  if  man  shall 
undertake  to  make  the  world  or  the  Church  over  again, 
without  regard  to  Divine  law,  it  must  end  in  terrible 
failure.  But  let  us  rejoice,  dear  brethren,  that  beyond 
the  present  disorder,  and  any  future  triumph  of  wicked- 
ness, there  rises  up  to  the  eye  of  faith  a  new  creation, 
over  which  Christ  shall  reign  with  irresistible  power,  and 
perfect  wisdom,  and  love;  and  let  us  seek  to  hasten  it, 


Anniversary  Address  265 

each  one  in  his  place,  by  fulfilling  His  will  in  the  present 
darkness  and  troubles  of  the  world,  in  patient  hope  and 
unwavering  faith.  Hold  on  a  little  longer,  for  the  great 
Deliverer  is  drawing  near.  He  has  blessed  you  in  the 
past,  and  He  will  bless  you  more  abundantly  in  the  time 
to  come,  if  only  you  will  be  lifted  up  into  the  fulness  of 
your  heavenly  calling,  and  will  pour  out  your  hearts  in 
intercessions  for  the  whole  Church  and  for  the  world, 
which  He  has  bought  with  His  blood.  He  has  not  for- 
gotten the  earth  which  He  made  His  birthplace  and  His 
battlefield,  in  which  He  fought  for  us  unto  the  death, 
and  won  the  victory.  And  He  longs  to  revisit  it,  that  He 
may  expel  all  evil  from  it,  and  wipe  away  all  tears,  and 
bring  down  to  it  the  joy  and  glory  of  heaven.  Nor  will 
He  forget  the  holy  ones,  yours  and  mine,  now  resting, 
as  to  their  bodies,  in  these  hallowed  graveyards,  but  will 
bring  them  with  Him  in  the  life  and  beauty  of  the  im- 
mortal and  incorruptible  body,  and  we  shall  be  separated 
no  more  forever.  And  may  the  blessings  of  His  Spirit 
and  providence  be  multiplied  unto  you  more  and  more 
unto  the  end,  preserving  you  amidst  all  the  perils  and 
snares  of  these  evil  days  unto  His  heavenly  kingdom; 
and  unto  you,  beloved  Brother,  whom  God  has  set  to 
feed  and  guide  this  His  flock,  so  that  when  the  chief 
Shepherd  shall  appear  to  require  them  at  your  hand,  you 
may  receive  a  crown  of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away. 


EXTRACT    FROM    A    DISCOURSE 
"  CHRISTIAN  NURTURE  " 


ON 


By  William  Watson  Andrews 


EPH.  vi.  4. — "  Bring  them  up  in  the  nurture  and 
admonition  of  the  Lord." 

The  meaning  of  the  Apostolic  injunction  I  be- 
lieve to  be  this:  "  Fathers,  give  unto  your  children, 
whom  the  Lord  in  Holy  Baptism  hath  made  the  Iambs 
of  His  flock,  the  nourishment  and  guidance  of  lambs. 
Do  not  treat  them  as  wolves,  and  so  provoke  them  to 
wrath, — but  feed  them  with  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word, 
that  they  may  grow  thereby.  Deal  with  them  as  children 
of  God,  not  as  children  of  the  wicked  one;  that  they  be 
not  discouraged,  and  become  the  prey  of  the  enemy. 
Train  them  up  as  those  to  whom  the  Lord  has  given  a 
name  and  a  standing  in  His  Church,  that  they  may  be 
faithful  to  it,  and  so  receive  the  inheritance." 

Christian  nurture,  concerning  which  the  Apostle 
speaks,  is  not  the  mere  instructing  of  children,  any 
children,  about  religious  truths  and  duties,  nor  the  train- 
ing of  the  baptized  with  the  expectation  that  as  the  fruit 
of  it  they  will  afterwards  be  gathered  into  Christ's  flock; 
but  it  is  the  rearing  of  those  who  are  already  Christ's,  to 
the  end  that  they  may  grow  up  into  Him,  be  filled  with 
His  fulness,  walk  in  His  ways,  and  ever  show  forth  the 

266 


Christian  Nurture  267 

life  of  Jesus  that  is  in  them.  In  the  one  case,  we  seek 
to  prepare  the  ground  for  the  after  reception  of  the  seed, 
should  it  please  God  to  sow  it;  in  the  other,  we  seek  to 
make  the  seed  already  planted  germinate  and  bring  forth 
fruit  unto  perfection.  To  train  up  children  in  the  nur- 
ture of  the  Lord,  supposes  that  the  Lord  has  already- 
made  them  His  by  some  solemn  and  public  transaction, 
known  and  real,  which  we  can  rest  upon  as  the  basis  of 
our  labors.  Those  to  whom  Paul  wrote  were  Christians, 
in  the  communion  of  the  visible  Church;  and  their  chil- 
dren, according  to  the  law  of  the  Church,  had  received 
baptism.  I  need  not  stop  to  prove  that  the  seal  of  the 
Christian  covenant  ought  to  be  applied  to  the  children 
of  the  faithful,  and  that  it  was  actually  so  applied  in  the 
primitive  times.  We  know  that  the  Jews  were  com- 
manded to  circumcise  their  young  children,  and  so  to 
bring  them  within  the  pale  of  the  same  covenant  with 
themselves;  and  had  Christ  laid  down  a  new  law,  shut- 
ting out  children  from  the  blessings  of  the  new  covenant, 
we  should  have  had  some  mention  of  it.  Such  an  in- 
novation on  His  way  of  dealing  with  households,  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world,  would  have  disturbed  men's 
minds,  and  there  would  have  been  some  reference  to  it 
in  the  New  Testament.  Its  almost  utter  silence  on  In- 
fant Baptism,  instead  of  being  an  argument  against  it,  is 
a  strong  argument  for  it;  for  it  shows  that,  as  the  old 
principle  was  still  in  force,  there  was  no  need  of  any 
allusion  to  the  subject.  And  the  oldest  accounts  show 
the  practice  of  the  Church,  as  far  back  as  there  is  any 
trace  of  light,  to  have  been  the  same  as  it  is  now,  and 
has  been  for  ages,  amongst  the  vast  majority  of  those 
who  bear  the  Christian  name.  It  is,  then,  of  baptized 
children  that  the  Apostle  speaks  when  he  charges  that 
they  should  be  brought  up  in  the  nurture  of  the  Lord. 
And  the  nurture  of  the  Lord,  in  which  we  are  to  bring 


268        William  Watson  Andrews 

them  up,  is  that  nurture  which  belongs  to  such  as  are 
His;  the  training  of  His  children  by  those  methods 
which  are  fitted  to  form  them  after  His  likeness,  and 
prepare  them  for  the  inheritance  of  His  kingdom.  ,   .   . 

Christian  training,  then,  starts  from  the  fact  of  an 
operation  already  done  by  God,  wherein  the  child 
brought  in  faith  to  His  sanctuary  is  by  Him  adopted, 
and  made  partaker  of  the  life  of  His  Son.  It  is  the 
training  of  those  who  are  taken  out  of  the  world,  and 
placed  in  the  Church;  and  its  aim  is  to  make  them  fruit- 
ful members  of  that  holy  company.  It  builds  on  the 
foundation  which  God  has  laid.  It  seeks  to  unfold  that 
which  He  has  given,  and  to  call  out  into  active  exercise 
all  the  virtues  and  graces  which  should  adorn  every 
member  of  the  Body  of  Christ.  It  looks  that  the  child 
should  "  open  upon  the  world  a  Christian,"  because 
God  has  already  joined  it  unto  His  Son.  It  is  the  rear- 
ing of  the  babe  of  the  Spirit,  so  that  it  may  adorn  its 
heavenly  parentage.  It  is  the  educating  of  the  heir  that 
he  may  be  rightly  qualified  for  the  rule  of  the  kingdom. 
This  is  the  relation  in  which  we  stand  to  the 
little  ones  of  Christ's  flock.  To  us,  as  their  parents, 
they  owe  the  earthly  life,  which  is  defiled  and  accursed; 
but  God,  through  the  ministry  of  His  Church,  has  given 
them  the  heavenly  life,  of  which  Christ  is  the  fountain; 
and  He  commits  them  to  us  that  we  may  bring  them  up 
as  His  sons  and  heirs,  to  be  worthy  of  their  high  origin, 
and  prepared  for  their  ultimate  destiny  as  kings  and 
priests  in  His  presence.  This  is  the  fact  we  are  ever  to 
keep  in  mind:  that  we  receive  them  back  from  their 
baptism  as  God's  and  not  ours;  and  that  we  are  to  deal 
with  them  as  His  offspring  by  a  spiritual  and  heavenly 
birth. 

Christian  training  divides  itself  into  two  parts:  that 
prior  to  personal  responsibility,  and  that  subsequent  to 


Christian  Nurture  269 

it.  In  the  one  case,  the  child  is  acted  on  as  an  uncon- 
scious subject,  much  as  the  flower  is  acted  on  by  the 
light  and  the  dew;  in  the  other,  he  co-operates  with  you 
as  a  free,  responsible  agent.  What,  then,  is  the  nature 
of  parental  responsibility  while  the  child  lies  in  the  un- 
consciousness of  infancy,  and  the  intellectual  and  moral 
powers  are  just  struggling  towards  their  development  ? 
It  is  no  time  for  direct  instruction,  which  the  babe  is  not 
capable  of  comprehending;  but  it  lies  passive  to  sur- 
rounding influences,  and  receives  a  bias  from  them.  And 
the  Christian  parent  is  to  see  to  it  that  these  influences 
be  holy,  in  order  that  the  good  seed  may  grow,  and  the 
fallen  nature  be  kept  impotent  in  death.  The  atmos- 
phere of  the  household  should  be  such  as  to  awaken  the 
breathings  of  the  hidden  life. 

As  when  the  new-born  babe,  whose  lungs  refuse  to 
play,  is  revived  by  the  air  that  it  breathes  into  its  nos- 
trils, so  holy  actings  should  be  called  forth  in  the  little 
ones  of  God's  family  by  the  holiness  around  them.  All 
that  meets  the  eye  or  strikes  upon  the  ear  should  savor 
of  the  love  and  pureness  of  heaven.  Their  infant  facul- 
ties soon  take  notice  of  the  looks  and  tones,  and  are  im- 
pressible to  them;  and  if  holy  peace  and  joy  beam  in  the 
countenances  on  which  they  daily  gaze,  and  the  tender- 
ness of  holy  love  speak  in  the  accents  they  continually 
hear,  then  are  like  emotions  awakened  in  themselves. 
But  if  they  are  brought  into  contact  with  evil  passions 
and  unclean  lusts,  and  their  young  eyes  first  rest  on 
faces  darkened  and  distorted  by  crime,  and  the  earliest 
sounds  they  drink  in  are  the  harsh  and  brutal  tones  of 
malice  and  revenge,  how  can  it  be  but  that  the  wicked- 
ness of  the  flesh  will  be  stirred  up  in  them  ?  Or,  if  it  is 
a  merely  worldly  atmosphere  that  surrounds  them,  in 
which  nothing  of  the  spiritual  life  is  felt  and  seen,  how 
can  we  look  for  the  quickening  of  the  Divine  seed  amidst 


270        William  Watson  Andrews 

.\ 

influences  so  chilling  ?  Like  awakens  like,  and  the 
young  lambs  of  Christ's  flock  have  th'e  evil  nature,  which 
they  inherited,  as  ready  to  respond  to  sinful  excitements 
as  the  new  life  is  to  start  forth  under  the  warmth  of  holy 
examples. 

The  first  element,  then,  in  Christian  training,  is  to  en- 
compass the  child  in  its  passive  unconsciousness  with 
Christian  influences.  All  that  is  said  and  done  in  its 
presence  should  have  a  holy  savor.  The  father  and 
mother  are  to  it  in  Christ's  stead,  through  whom  He 
would  deal  with  His  little  ones;  and  they  should  show 
forth  the  tenderness  of  love  and  the  purity  of  the 
heavenly  mind  in  every  word  and  work.  In  the  house- 
hold, heaven  should  be  brought  down  to  earth.  Every- 
thing should  speak  of  the  life  Divine.  The  pollutions  of 
the  flesh  should  have  no  place  in  it.  The  little  world 
surrounding  the  child  should  be  a  miniature  of  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven.  The  light  and  peace  and  joy  of  God 
should  pervade  it.  And  thus  should  we  look  to  see  our 
children,  in  the  first  beginnings  of  their  conscious  exist- 
ence, manifesting  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  con- 
formed to  the  image  of  His  holiness  as  reflected  in  us. 
There  can  be  no  sufficient  reason  why  their  earliest 
actings  should  not  be  prompted  by  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord,  and  the  life  that  has  been  given  them  unfold  itself 
in  child-like  forms  of  piety.  If  John  the  Baptist  leaped 
for  joy  in  his  mother's  womb,  and  Jeremiah  was  sancti- 
fied before  his  birth,  how  much  more  should  the  babes 
of  the  Church,  enriched  with  more  blessed  gifts,  show 
the  buddings  of  the  heavenly  grace! 

Remember  that  the  character  of  your  children  will  re- 
ceive its  form  and  impress  from  your  own,  and  that  an 
influence  for  good  or  for  evil  is  passing  over,  from  you 
to  them,  while  they  yet  lie  in  the  helplessness  of  infancy. 
There  is  a  silent  power  in  the  very  presence  of  holiness. 


Christian  Nurture  271 

What  you  are,  your  spiritual  character  manifesting  itself 
in  your  daily  life  before  their  eyes,  will  not  be  without 
its  effects.  If  you  would  have  them  begin  to  unfold  the 
life  of  God  from  the  cradle,  you  must  yourselves  be 
under  the  power  of  that  life,  and  let  its  holy  fragrance 
always  fill  your  dwelling.  Keep  the  old  man  crucified 
within  yourselves,  if  you  would  not  have  it  bud  in  them. 
Be  yourselves  dead  unto  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  and  the 
vanities  of  the  world,  if  you  would  have  them  uncon- 
taminated  by  their  pollutions.  Do  not  think  it  a  light 
matter  what  the  spiritual  atmosphere  of  your  house  is, 
even  as  to  the  babe  upon  its  mother's  breast.  Let  all 
that  encompasses  it  speak  of  its  Divine  origin,  and  its 
heavenly  destination,  and  sink  with  life-giving  power 
into  the  depths  of  its  yet  unconscious  spirit. 

The  next  stage  of  Christian  nurture  is  that  which  fol- 
lows the  development  of  understanding  in  the  child,  and 
the  commencement  of  personal  responsibility.  There 
is  a  time  when  its  spiritual  faculties  lie  hidden,  and  as 
yet  there  is  no  dawning  of  the  moral  nature;  and  then 
all  that  can  be  done  is  through  the  silent  and  unnoticed 
influences  of  the  household  life.  But  at  length  the  bud- 
dings of  intelligence,  and  the  actings  of  a  responsible 
will,  begin  to  be  seen.  From  that  time,  the  child  must 
be  addressed  as  the  Lord's,  a  member  of  the  household 
of  faith,  and  an  heir  of  the  kingdom.  It  should  be 
taught  its  standing  as  of  the  flock  of  Christ.  It  should 
be  spoken  to,  not  as  if  it  were  of  the  world,  an  alien, 
still  lying  under  condemnation  and  wrath,  but  as  a  child 
and  heir,  as  taken  out  of  the  natural  and  engrafted  into 
the  spiritual,  as  removed  from  under  the  curse  and 
adopted  into  the  family  of  God,  where  is  reconciliation 
and  peace  and  life  eternal.  The  very  earliest  lesson  to 
be  taught  it  is  its  place  in  the  fold  of  Jesus.  If  it  is 
taught  to  regard  itself  as  of  the  world,  as  a  heathen. 


2  72        William  Watson  Andrews 

standing  outside  of  the  blessings  of  the  Christian  cove- 
nant, why  should  we  wonder  if  it  should  feel  at  liberty 
to  act  as  such,  and  so  the  flesh,  that  has  been  buried  in 
baptism,  live  again,  and  have  range  for  its  affections  and 
lusts  ?  It  is  by  knowing  that  they  are  God's  children 
that  they  feel  confidence  to  approach  Him.  We  must 
teach  them  that  they  are  reconciled  in  Christ,  and  that 
God  does  not  impute  their  trespasses  unto  them,  because 
that  in  His  mercy  He  has  made  them  His  own,  blotting 
out  their  sins,  and  joining  them  unto  His  beloved  Son; 
that,  abiding  in  Him,  they  may  be  one  with  Him  for- 
ever. They  must  know  their  standing  as  sons  through  a 
Divine  act,  and  never  be  suffered  to  identify  themselves 
with  the  world  that  lieth  in  the  wicked  one. 

The  radical  error  in  the  training  of  Christian  children 
is  the  forgetting,  and  suffering  them  to  forget,  that  they 
are  Christians  by  a  heavenly  birth  and  adoption ;  and 
consequently  the  treating  of  them  as  if  they  were  not  the 
Lord's.  We  all  need  to  be  reminded  of  our  high  calling 
and  sonship,  which  is  a  mystery  addressed  to  faith,  and 
liable  to  be  forgotten  amidst  the  pressure  of  the  earthly 
life.  We  naturally  seek  to  do  that  which  becomes  our 
position.  Let  our  children,  then,  be  ever  addressed  as 
being  of  the  flock  which  the  Lord  Jesus  has  ransomed 
with  His  blood,  separated  from  the  world,  defended  by 
His  ordinances,  enriched  with  His  gifts,  and  called  to 
be  partakers  of  His  eternal  glory.  Let  us  not  forget  the 
grace  of  baptism,  though  it  should  long  seem  a  hidden 
and  inoperative  thing.  Let  us  remind  them  of  the  plant- 
ing, that  the  fruit  may  appear.  And  it  is  in  the  con- 
tinual remembrance  of  this,  and  on  the  basis  of  their 
true  position  before  God,  that  the  work  of  training  them 
in  His  nurture  and  admonition  must  proceed.  They 
must  be  taught  in  their  earliest  acting  to  do  all  that  befits 
the  little  ones  of  the  fold.     As  their  faculties  are  awak- 


Christian  Nurture 


273 


ened  and  called  into  exercise,  they  must  be  directed  and 
supplied  with  the  food  which  the  life  of  God  that  is  in 
them  craves  for  its  nourishment.  .  .  .  With  the  in- 
creasing capacity  for  knowledge,  the  child  should  be 
taught  the  great  actings  of  God  as  expressed  in  the 
creeds  of  the  Church,  and  learn  with  distinct  apprehen- 
sion to  say  of  the  mysteries  of  His  ways,  "  I  believe." 


5.— GENEALOGICAL  NOTES 


WILLIAM  ANDREWS:  emigrated  1635;  one  of 
twelve  men  chosen  to  do  the  "foundation 
work  "  of  the  church  in  New  Haven,  1639. 
Rev.  William  Andrews,  sixth  in  descent  from  the  emi- 
grant; born  Ellington, Conn.,  September  28, 17S2;  married 
Sarah  Parkhill;  died  January  i,  1838.  Pastor  of  Con- 
gregational churches  in  Windham,  Danbury,  and  Corn- 
wall, Conn.     Seven  children. 

(i)  William  Watson,  the  subject  of  this  biography; 
born  Feb.  26,  18 10;  married  (ist)  Mary  Anne  Given, 
(2d)  Elizabeth  Byrne  Williams;  died  October  17,  1897. 

(2)  Edward  Warren;  born  July  15,  1811;  married 
Mary  Le  Baron  Gilbert;  died  September  2,  1895.  Law- 
yer and  clergyman;  three  years  in  the  army;  first  pastor 
of  Broadway  Tabernacle  Church  (Congregational),  New 
York. 

(3)  Sarah  Parkhill;  born  Jan.  2,  1813;  married 
Araunah  Waterman  Hyde;  died  Jan.  12,  1840. 

(4)  Israel  Ward;  born  Jan.  3,  1815;  married  (ist) 
Sarah  Hayes  Clark,  (2d)  Marrianne  Stuart  Clark;  died 
April  18,  1888.  Thirty  years  President  of  Marietta  Col- 
lege, Marietta,  Ohio;  "^VL^Xv^tdi.  Manual  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States. 

(5)  Samuel    James  ;   born    July   31,    1817  ;    married 

274 


Genealogical  Notes  275 

Catharine  Augusta  Day.  Lawyer  and  clergyman, Congre- 
gational and  Catholic  Apostolic;  published  The  Life  of 
Our  Lord,  and  other  works.     Resides  in  Hartford,  Conn. 

(6)  Timothy  Langdon;  born  May  9,  1819;  married 
(ist)  Laura  Amsden  Childs,  (2d)  Mrs.  Sarah  Emeline 
(Taylor)  White.  Physician  and  journalist.  Resides  at 
Mt.  Pleasant,  Iowa, 

(7)  Ebenezer  Baldwin ;  born  April  29,  1821;  married 
Catharine  Frances  Laflin ;  died  Aug.  14,  1880.  Clergy- 
man, Congregational  and  Presbyterian;  Professor  of 
Natural  Scieijices  at  Marietta;  two  years  in  the  army;  on 
Ohio  State  Geological  Survey;  published  An  Elementary 
Geology. 

Children  of  William  Watson  Andrews: 

(i)  William  Given;  married  Caroline  Caldwell  Jenkins; 
rector  of  Christ  Church  (Protestant  Episcopal),  Guilford, 
Conn. 

(2)  Susan  Van  Wyck;  died  Dec.  2,  1874. 

(3)  James  Watson;  married  Laura  Hoppock  Cotheal; 
died  Sept.  21,  1880.  Clerk.  Two  children:  Susan  Van 
Wyck — married  Wesley  Hamilton  Benham,  now  (1900) 
rector  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  St.  Alban's,  Vt. ;  and 
Henry  Cotheal,  graduate  student  in  Yale  University. 

(4)  Mary  Williams;  resides  at  Wethersfield. 

(5)  Charles  McLean;  married  Evangeline  Holcombe 
Walker.  Professor  of  History  at  Bryn  Mawr  College, 
Bryn  Mawr,  Pa.  Published  The  Historical  Development 
of  Modern  Europe,  etc.  Two  children:  Ethel  and  John 
Williams. 

(6)  Elizabeth  Parkhill ;  resides  at  Wethersfield. 


-PUBLISHED  WRITINGS  OF  W. 
ANDREWS 


W. 


1837.  The  Relations  of  Law  and  of  a  Reverential 
Spirit  to  National  Prosperity;  oration  before  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  Society,  Yale,  Aug.  18,  1835.  Christian  Spectator, 
Sept.,  1837. 

1841.  The  Hebrew  Commonwealth;  oration  before  the 
Linonian  Society,  Yale,  Aug.  17,  1841. 

1846.  The  Rank  of  the  Jewish  Nation  in  the  Kingdom 
of  Christ;  sermon  preached  New  York,  Jan.  25,  1846. 

1847.  The  Miscellanies  and  Correspondence  of  Hon. 
John  Cotton  Smith,  LL.D.,  with  an  eulogy  pronounced 
before  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  at  New  Haven, 
May  27,  1846. 

1848.  National  Unity;  Netu  Englander,0c\.6bex,  i2>^Z. 

1849.  Sermon  preached  at  Kent,  Conn.,  on  withdraw- 
ing from  the  Congregational  Ministry,  May,  1849. 

1853.  The  True  Constitution  of  the  Church  and  its 
Restoration,  with  Appendix.  Read  to  the  North  Asso- 
ciation of  Litchfield  County,  Conn.,  Sept.  28,  1853. 

1856.  The  Work  of  the  Church  in  America,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  West;  address  before  the  Society  of  Inquiry, 
Marietta  College,  Ohio,  July  28,  1855. 

1856.  Christ  the  Living  One;  sermon  preached  at  the 
funeral  of  Mrs.  Olive  C.  Fuller,  Kent,  Jan.  18,  1856. 

276 


Published  Writings  277 

1858.  Testimony  to  All  who  Profess  the  Faith  of 
Christ  (anon.);  in  behalf  of  the  churches  gathered  under 
the  Apostles  in  the  United  States  and  Canada. 

1863.  Review  of  Mrs.  Oliphant's  "  Life  of  Edward 
Irving";  New  Englander,  July  and  October,  1863, 
Reprinted  in  Scotland,  1864,  and  again  in  1900. 

1866.  The  Catholic  Apostolic  Church;  Bibliotheca 
Sacra,  January  and  April,  1866.     Reprinted  in  England. 

1866.  Remarks  on  Dr.  Bushnell's  "  Vicarious  Sacri- 
fice." Read  before  the  Hartford  Fourth  Association, 
May  I,  1866,  and  published  at  its  request. 

1866.  Divine  Remedy  for  the  Lawlessness  of  the  Last 
Days;  an  address,  London,  1866. 

1867.  Letter  to  Rev.  W.  C,  Doane  (now  Bishop  of 
Albany),  on  the  True  Marks  of  the  Church. 

1867.  The  Cycles  of  History,  Congregational  Review^ 
October,  1867. 

1868.  Zion's  Desolation  and  Zion's  Hope;  sermon 
preached  (and  printed)  in  Edinburgh. 

1868.  The  End  of  All  Things  Is  at  Hand;  sermon 
preached  (and  printed)  in  Edinburgh. 

1872.  Christ  in  the  Book  of  Genesis;  American  Church 
Review,  July,  1872. 

1872.  Sermon  on  The  Verdict  of  the  People,  London, 
1872. 

1872.  Sermon  on  Woman :  Her  True  Place  and  Stand- 
ing; Glasgow  (tran-i^lated  into  Swedish,  1876;  reprinted 
in  England  ;  also  in  Hartford,  1888). 

1877.  The  Catholic  Apostolic  Church;  in  ist  volume 
of  Schaff' s  Creeds  of  Christendom. 

1878.  Address  at  the  Funeral  of  Rev.  Adam  Reid, 
D.D.,  of  Salisbury,  Conn. 

1880.  The  Catholic  Apostolic  Church;  in  2d  volume 
of  McClintock  &  Strong's  Cyclopcedia  of  Biblical,  Theo- 
logical, and  Ecclesiastical  Literature. 


278        William  Watson  Andrews 

1880.  Address  at  the  Funeral  of  Rev.  Oliver  Ellsworth 
Daggett,  D.D.,  Hartford. 

1882.  The  Glorious  Ascension  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ;  sermon  preached  (and  printed)  in  Edin- 
burgh. 

1887.  Address  at  the  Funeral  of  Mrs.  Eliza  Forsyth, 
Hartford,  Jan.  26,  1887. 

1894.  Address  at  the  Sixtieth  Anniversary  of  his  Ordi- 
nation, Kent,  May  22,  1894. 

1896.  Early  Recollections  of  Danbury.  Printed  in  an 
Account  of  the  Bi-Centennial  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  in  Danbury,  Conn. 

Mr.  Andrews  often  gave  Homilies,  some  of  which 
were  printed  in  the  Pastoral  Instruction,  a  monthly 
periodical  for  the  use  of  the  Apostolic  congregations. 
Among  these  were: 

The  Present  and  Abiding  Humanity  of  our  Lord. 

The  Two  Advents  of  Christ;  a  Christmas  Sermon. 

A  Christmas  Homily. 

Homily,  All  Saints. 

Other  Homilies  are  found  in  Nos.  25,  39,  54,  73,  87, 
93,  of  the  Pastoral  Instruction. 

In  pursuance  of  his  evangelistic  work,  he  printed  a 
tract — A  Few  Words  to  the  Churches. 

He  wrote  also  many  articles  for  the  newspapers,  the 
most  of  them  for  the  Times  and  the  Courant  oi  Hartford. 
Of  some  of  these  mention  has  been  made.  A  number 
were  reprinted  abroad.     Of  these  were: 

Martin  Luther  and  Edward  Irving,  their  Work  and 
Testimony  Compared. 

An  American  View  of  the  House  of  Lords. 

Astronomy  and  Christianity  not  Inconsistent, 

The  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church. 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


Adams,  Rev.  A.  C,  letter  from,  168-69 
Albury,  England,  45-47,  82,  153-54 
Allen,  Rev.  Samuel  H.,  148 
Andrews,    Mrs.   Mary   Ann,  first  wife 
of  W.  W.   Andrews,   12,  64-66,   71- 

72 

Andrews,  Susan  Van  Wyck,  134-35 
Andrews,  William,  first  settler,  i,  274 
Andrews,  Rev.  William,  father  of  W. 

W.  Andrews,  i,  31,  245,  274 
Andrews,  Rev.  William  Watson,  birth, 
I  ;  life  at  Yale  College,  2-6  ;  influence 
of  Coleridge  on,  5,  i3 ;  interest  in 
movement  resulting  in  Catholic  Apos- 
tolic Church,  6-8  ;  in  Cornwall,  8  ; 
teaches  school,  2,  lo-ii  ;  tutor  at 
Warrenton,  Va.,  10;  first  marriage, 
12;  licensed  to  preach,  12;  declines 
call  to  church  in  New  Hartford,  12 ; 
becomes  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
church  in  Kent,  12,  244-46  ;  pastoral 
work  in  Kent,  27,  69-73,  244-50;  called 
to  Cornwall,  31 ;  charge  of  "  Irving- 
ism  "  brought  against,  31-32 ;  letter 
from  Dr.  Bushnell,  37-38 ;  disabled 
from  public  labor,  39,  248-50  ;  goes  to 
England,  43,  249-50;  letter  from  Por- 
ter on  the  Catholic  Apostolic  Church, 
47-49 ;  replies  to  it,  49-51  ;  writes  to 
his  congregation  in  Kent,  52-55  ;  re- 
turns to  his  work,  56 ;  letters  regard- 
ing professorship  at  Amherst,  56-57  ; 
calls  from  South  church,  Hartford, 
and  Congregational  church,  Wethers- 
field,  58  ;  death  of  his  first  wife,  64  ; 
decides  to  leave  Kent.  66 ;  takes 
charge  of  congregation  in  Potsdam, 
74 ;  letters  from  Potsdam,  77-80, 
82-84  ;  leaves  Potsdam,  92  ;  second 
marriage,  92 ;  begins  work  as  an' 
evangelist,  92  ;  visits  Kent,  103-4 ; 
correspondence  on  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church,  105-9  ;  death  of  his  oldest 
daughter,  134-35  ;  death  of  his  second 
son,  150 ;  last  visit  to  and  illness  in 


England,  IS.3-S5  ;  writes  to  the  church 
in  Kent  on  its  150th  anniversary,  170- 
72 ;  address  in  Kent  on  the  sixtieth 
anniversary  of  his  ordination,  173-74 ; 
review  of  his  ev'angelist  work  and  its 
reception,  177-87 ;  withdraws  from 
active  labor,  iSo;  life  in  Wethers- 
field,  188-93  ;  ^''5'  sickness  and  death, 
194-95  ;  resolutions  passed  by  church 
in  Kent,  195-96;  address  by  Dr.  Hart 
at  funeral  of,  197-200 

Apostles,  ministry  of,  revived,  34-35, 
203-4;  account  of,  46,  note 

Armstrong,  Nicholas,  156 

Articles,  sermons,  and  addresses  men- 
tioned or  given  in  full.  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  oration,  30;  articles  in  the 
Weekly  Messenger,  59;  eulogy  on 
John  Cotton  Smith,  61  ;  farewell  ser- 
mon, 68,  206-41  ;  Statement  of  Rea- 
sons, 67-68,  201-5  ;  Pastoral  Relation, 
73  ;  True  Constitution  of  the  Church, 
84-85;  Review  of  Mrs.  Oliphant's 
Life  of  Irving,  114;  Remarks  on 
Dr.  Bushnell's  Vicario7is  Sacrifice, 
118-23;  Types  of  Christ  in  the  Old 
Testament,  126;  lectures  on  Wor- 
ship, 128-34,  144,  163,  187;  Old 
Christianity,  158-61;  Reunion  of 
Christendom,  161-62  ;  Cardinal  New- 
man and  St.  Paul,  169-70;  anniver- 
sary address,  173-74,  242-65  ;  Chris- 
tian Nurture,  266-73.  (See  pp.  276-78.) 

Atwater,  Prof.  Lyman  H.,  4,  58 ;  let- 
ters from,  64,  66  ;  death  of  his  wife, 
146  ;  death  of,  152  ;  character  of,  152- 
53 

Bapst,  Rev.  John,  105-7 
Barbour,  Dr.  J.  H.,  139-40 
Barnard,  Mrs.  Henry,  172-73 
Berea  College,  visit  to,  144-45 
Burton,  Dr.  N.  J.,  123-24  ;  letter  from, 

155-56;   death  of,  155;   theology  of, 

156-58 


279 


28o 


General  Index 


Bushnell,  Dr.  Horace,  37-38,  61-62, 
118-23 

Catholic  Apostolic  Church,  beginning 
of  movement,  6-8,  ig-20 ;  extracts 
from  English  periodicals  upon,  24, 
note  ;  "  Irvingism  "  defined,  31-32  ; 
criticism  of,  113-14;  congregation  or- 
ganized in  Hartford,  126 ;  its  ritual, 
132-33,  185  ;  article  in  Schaff's  Creeds 
0/  Christendom,  140-42 

Christian  Intelligencer,  extract  from, 
85  ;  note,  2 

Christian  Observer,  extract  from,  24, 
note 

Church  Review,  extracts  from,  68, 
note  ;  96-97 

Churckjuan,  extract  from,  38 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  influence  on  Mr.  An- 
drews, 5,  18-19 

Congregationalism,  New  England, 13-17 

Congregationalist,  extracts  from,  86, 
note,  149 ;    criticism   of,   replied    to, 

149-50 
Cornwall,  8,  31 
Cowles,  Mr.  Chauncey,  164 

Davenport,  Rev.  J.  S.,  84,  135  ;   death 

of,  135,  note 
Doane,  Bishop  W.  C,  124-25 
Drummond,  Henry,  45-47 
Dunham,  Miss  Martha  S.,  153 

Edinburgh  Review,  extracts  from,  24, 

note,  1 13 
Evangelist  ministry,  92-94,  99-101 

Fisher,  Prof.  George  P.,  143,  175 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  146-48 
Genealogical  notes,  274-75 

Hart,  Dr.  Samuel,  address  of,  at  Mr. 

Andrews'  funeral,  197-200 
Hartford  Central  Association,  192-93 
Hewitt,  Rev.  Augustus,  39-40 
Humphrey,  President,  of  Amherst,  57 
Huntington,  Bishop,  109-10 

Irving,  Edward,  33,  note ;  Life  of,  by 
Mrs.  Oliphant,  110-14  ;  criticism  of, 
III,  note 

Irvingism,  term  explained,  32,  note 

Kent,  description  of,  26-27  \  Mr.  An- 
drews accepts  call  to  church  in,  12, 
244-46 ;  leaves,  66 ;  revisits,  103-4, 
173-74  ;  150th  anniversary  of  church 
in,  170-72 ;  reviev/  of  Mr.  Andrews' 
ministry  in,  244-52 


Lillie,  Dr.  John,  59-60,  63,  76,  125 
Linonian  Society,  Yale  College,  3-4 
Liturgical  Club,  Hartford,  139-40 

Marietta  College,  87,  89-90 
Mercers'ourg  Movement,  58 
Moody,  Dwight  L.,  95 

Neill,  Rev.  Henry,  90-91 

Nevin,  Dr.  John  W.,  58-59 

New  York  Observer,  extracts  from,  34, 

8s,  note  2,  111,  note 
Newman,  Cardinal,  169-70 
North  Association  of  Litchfield  Co.,  68, 

84-85 
North  British  Revzeui,  extract  from. 


67-68,  85,  note  1 

Oberlin  College,  go 
O'Connor,  Bishop,  107-8 
Oliphant,  Mrs.  M.  O.  W.,  110-14 
Oxford  Movement,  40-41,  48,  131-32 

Park,  Dr.  E.  A.,  117 

Porter,  Rev.  Noah,  117-18 

Porter,  Noah,  President  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, address  on  Linnni^n  Society, 
3-4;  settled  at  New  I.Iilford,  30-31  ; 
letter  from,  on  the  Catholic  Apostolic 
Church,  47-49 ;  urges  Mr.  Andrews 
to  leave  Kent,  48-49,  56 ;  letters 
from,  62,  67, 154-55, 168  ;  death  of,  173 

Potsdam,  N.  Y.,  74,  92 

Reid,  Rev.  Adam,  31,  143-44,  164-65 

Salisbury,  Prof.  E.  E.,  175-76 
Schaff,  Dr.  Philip,  58,  141 
Smith,  John  Cotton,  eulogy  on,  61 
Smith,  Rev.  E.  B.,  trial  of,  136-39 
Spiritual  gifts,  revival  of,  7,  23-24,  202, 

217-19 
Statement  of  Reasons,  201-5 
Staunton,  Dr.  William,  87-89 

Tractarian  .Movement.  {See  Oxford 
Movement) 

Wethersfield,  Conn.,  Mr.  Andrews 
called  to  church  in,  58 ;  Mr.  An- 
drews' life  in,  188-93 

Williams,  Bishop,  i6i,  note 

Worship,  Mr.  Andrews'  lectures  on, 
12S-34,  144,  163,  187 

Wright,  Rev.  B.  W.,  170,  174-75 

Yale  College,  Mr.  Andrews'  life  at, 
2-6  ;  class  of  1831,  2,  note  ;  societies 
of,  3-4 


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